There are a lot of firsts for Dylan Pietsch on Saturday except for the number of caps on his Wallabies jersey.

That stands at two after debuting more than a month ago in the first Test match of the 2024 Australian season in Sydney against Wales.

The 26-year-old sat the bench in his second attempt to get onto the field in Melbourne and the flanker-come-converted winger was rested – rather than dropped – the following week for the one-off Test against Georgia back at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Before the selection announcement on Thursday Rugby Australia's own website stated Pietsch had already played two Tests, incorrectly counting the 80 minutes he watched play from the sidelines against Wales at AAMI Park as a cap.

"I got to put one toe on the ground for it count," Pietsch laughed at the technical error.

"On my jersey for this Test it says two Tests like this is my second Test.

"I said to the boys I wonder how many second Tests I am going to have."

Pietsch is determined to contribute more than the four and a half minutes of Test rugby the Leeton Phantoms-product has played after waiting 12 months to make a promised appearance.

Sacked coach Eddie Jones had teased Pietsch with a seat on the plane to Pretoria to debut against the South Africans this time last year and experience a real Test baptism at the high altitude of Loftus Versfield.

That never happened and Jones's replacement, undefeated Wallabies mentor Joe Schmidt, at least has been a tad more accommodating to Pietsch and other newbies to Test rugby in the fallout from last year's World Cup disaster.

"It's going to be awesome to play at Suncorp Stadium against the best in the world," Pietsch said.

"There's nothing stopping you to get up for the game because it's what you play rugby for: to play against the best teams and to challenge yourself against them."

The Test will be Pietsch's first experience, outside of the rugby sevens' game, coming across most of South Africa's finest union players, let alone facing the country's Springboks national lineup head on.

For two nations that have been inexplicably linked by a code that is all but the official sport in South Africa, the lack of opportunity has come about by Pietsch being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The former Kings School student in Parramatta – through a rugby scholarship in the revered GPS Sydney competition – has appeared no less than 19 times for Australia in the World Sevens Series from 2017 to 2019, and again in 2021 after the pandemic interruption.

He only left the rugby sevens circuit in 2022 to link up with New South Wales for a maiden Super Rugby season for the Waratahs.

By the time of Pietsch's debut in the 15-a-side game, the South African Rugby Union opted to controversially re-align its five representative provincial teams to the European Rugby Champions Cup.

"I haven't played, apart from the world series, against South African teams, but I didn't really think about it too much," Pietsch said.

"I have adverse both of their wingers in sevens, Cheslin (Kolbe) and (Kurt-Lee) Ardense, but other than that I haven't played any of the South Africans.

"(Their game) kind of suits my style, them being a lot more physical, trying to dominate you, because that's really my forte with a lot of physicality.

"So it's always good when players go up against you to your strength and there'll be a bit of give."

Despite heading into Saturday's Test with a fair bit of personal mystique on the subtle nuances of South African rugby, Pietsch is expecting nothing less from the 2023 World Cup holders to defend their intense patriotic pride.

"I suppose they wouldn't know too much about me, but I am sure they have done a fair bit of their research – I would expect them to be particularly meticulous," he said.

"They will focus on themselves more, much like we are focusing on ourselves.

"Hopefully I will get on the pitch, run the ball and do what I do best and have some fun while I am doing it."

Pietsch said Schmidt's message since first meeting the New Zealand-born, former Irish national coach in the 37-player training squad in Brisbane straight after the Super Rugby has been only positive.

The sellout Brisbane crowd that is expected to exceed 50,000 spectators will not be a distraction to putting his best foot forward, Pietsch indicated, at a venue that the Wallabies hold its greatest success rate in the modern game.

"I know he says focus at what you know you're good at and keep it simple, but when I come on try and make a real impact – that's what I will try to do," he said.

"I want to build the trust within the coaching staff and know when I come on, I can do a job: either increase the intensity or keep it at the same intensity."