Another day, another round of the slanging match that has been the build-up to the third Test between the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions.

Another day, another round of the slanging match that has been the build-up to the third Test between the Springboks and the British and Irish Lions. Well, that's what the script said at least, but as dawn broke over Johannesburg yesterday morning it seemed that a few rays of the perpetual sunshine of the high veldt winter had finally insinuated themselves into the characters of the main protagonists. At long, long last, they found something they could agree upon.

More bizarrely still, this outbreak of unanimity centred upon the decision of an international disciplinary committee to reject the appeal of Springboks lock Bakkies Botha against the two-week ban he was given for dangerous rucking during last Saturday's second Test in Pretoria. So frosty has the atmosphere been between the two sides in recent days that the Lions might have been expected to celebrate the outcome; instead, however, most of them have had nothing but sympathy for Botha.

Most observers believe that it was not Botha's act of charging into a ruck that was punished, but the outcome. Wales prop Adam Jones suffered a tour-ending shoulder dislocation as he took the force of the 19st forward in full flight, but there was no obvious malice or intent in the action of clearing the breakdown that is part and parcel of almost every rugby match.

"I've gone into rucks like that many times," said Andrew Sheridan, the England prop whose inclusion in the Lions team to play at Ellis Park is one of eight changes - seven personnel and one positional - from the side which went down 28-25 at Loftus Versfeld last weekend. "There's this new directive that you have to bind before you hit a ruck, but I find that very difficult to think you could do that. There will always be initial shoulder contact and I'm not changing what I do."

Ian McGeechan, the Lions coach, also expressed disquiet over the way the laws of the game now seem to be interpreted.

The Scot said: "It means that players entering the ruck are going to be very careful in making sure that the driving force is forwards rather than down. That's going to be a big call in situations where there's always a lot of contest and a lot of pressure. It's going to be very interesting to read how that evolves.

"I'm not going to get into the rights and wrongs. They've decided there's something not quite right there, but as coaches and players it means we've got to be very clear in that area to make sure we keep it as positive as possible."

Injuries sustained in the brutal contest in Pretoria have enforced four of the changes in the Lions XV. Sheridan takes the place of Gethin Jenkins, who fractured a cheekbone, Tommy Bowe moves in from the wing to fill the centre berth of concussion victim Brian O'Driscoll, Riki Flutey fills the midfield gap left by Jamie Roberts, who has not shaken off his wrist strain, while Phil Vickery returns to the tighthead side of the front row in place of Jones.

Vickery toiled badly against Tendai Beast' Mtawarira in Durban 13 days ago, so it will be as much a test of the Englishman's character as his scrummaging abilities to face up to the same opponent again.

On that front, however, McGeechan expressed his faith that Vickery, who has been suffering a throat infection over the past few days, was well up to the task, although he also dropped a hint that Bryce Lawrence, the controversial referee of the first Test, had been lax in allowing the Beast to scrummage illegally.

"I'm very confident," McGeechan said. "Phil is a world-class prop and as I think the refereeing was pretty good in that area in the second Test I don't have any concerns there. There were some issues we clarified that led to the scrums being more stable."

The other changes in the Lions side see new pairings on the wings, where Ugo Monye and Shane Williams come into the team in place of Bowe and Luke Fitzgerald, and on the flanks, where Martyn Williams and Joe Worlsey take over from David Wallace and Tom Croft.

With an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, and with the Tri Nations looming, South Africa have also taken a radical approach. Despite the fact his Springboks have an opportunity to make history by whitewashing the Lions for the first time ever, coach Peter de Villiers has made 10 changes to his side. The most significant among them are that full-back Zane Kirchner is given a debut cap, while Morne Steyn, who kicked the match-winning penalty last weekend, makes a first start at fly-half. The flanker, Heinrich Brussow, a thorn in the Lions side in earlier games, returns to the openside.

Schalk Burger, whose place Brussow takes, has finally apologised - albeit in rather qualified terms - for the now notorious attack on Fitzgerald that brought him an eight-week ban from rugby.

"I will always play the game as hard as possible within the rules," said Burger. I apologise to my supporters and fellow team-mates for the fact that I have been absent for the first 10 minutes of the second Test. I look forward to returning with zest in due course."