A selection made in the middle of a Tri-Nations season doesn't normally attract as much focus as one made at the start of a competition, but the disastrous Springbok performances during the away leg have added considerable interest to Sunday's announcement of the squad for the home leg.
The squad of 26 or 28 will go a long way towards telling us how the Boks are going to react to one of several big questions they brought home with them after their three defeats in Australasia - the one that centres on the game-plan to be implemented going forward towards next year's World Cup in New Zealand.
The away leg exposed the much spoken of Bok player-driven system in that it was clear the players were caught out by the pace at which the Australians and New Zealanders were able to play the game under the new law interpretations. It was also clear the Bok coaching staff had been left behind by their All Black and Wallaby counterparts when it came to innovation.
A decision has to be made on which game to employ - do they just try and refine and improve on what worked last year, with better execution (and for that read getting in the first time tackles) of the operative phrase, or do they take the massive gamble of trying to play Australia and New Zealand at their own game.
The latter option looks a recipe for more anguish.
There is no-one in the Bok playing personnel with much experience of the quick tempo running game being played by New Zealand and Australia. It should not be a consoling thought that the only member of the coaching staff who has ever tried it at a high level was Dick Muir with the Lions.
But even if the shift is not going to be too radical, there are areas where greater mobility has to be a non-negotiable, and one of those is hooker. Those who are calling for John Smit's head don't understand the massive role the captain has played in keeping the Boks on track over the past two years.
As long as Peter de Villiers is coach you sense Smit and the other team leader, Victor Matfield of the Blue Bulls, are going to have to remain involved.
So the question is not so much one of whether Smit should play or not, but where he should be accommodated - and loosehead prop is where he looked most comfortable during the recent Super 14.
Any threat to Matfield's position has been quelled by the injury that has forced Andries Bekker out for the rest of the season.
So the talking points before the team for the All Black Test is selected should be scrumhalf, where Ruan Pienaar is now unavailable through injury, the back-row configuration, flyhalf, and the midfield.
There are many calling for the return of Frans Steyn at fullback and the argument that the X-factor and massive kicking boot of Steyn is a necessity does have merit.
However, that horse may have bolted for now in that if Steyn was going to play, he should have played the entire international season.
Plucking him out of his off-season rest to play a Tri-Nations Test would make no sense given that the coach felt he was already off the pace in his solitary match against Wales, which was played straight after the northern season had ended.
There have been suggestions Bryan Habana is heading for the axe, but it would be wrong to blame the wing for problems initiated on his inside. Jean de Villiers should never be played anywhere other than inside centre, so hopefully that madness will finally end, and Juan de Jongh should play No 13 in Soweto in the absence of the suspended Jaque Fourie.