Monty, JP sent into Bok battle
Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:25
Experienced campaigner: Percy Montgomery slots into the Bok side
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has selected World Cup winners Percy Montgomery and JP Pietersen to start the second Test against New Zealand in Dunedin on Saturday.
De Villiers made three changes to the starting line-up that lost the opening match against New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium last weekend.
The main changes are in the backline, with Conrad Jantjes and Odwa Ndungane making way for Montgomery and Pietersen, despite Jantjes having a fairly solid Test last week.
Lock Bakkies Botha will earn his 50th Test cap on Saturday at Carisbrook, a venue where the Springboks have never won a Test match.
The towering lock was on Thursday named as partner for Victor Matfield for their 40th Test match together as a pair when Springbok coach Peter de Villiers named his team in Wellington.
Bismarck du Plessis replaces the injured captain John Smit, who was ruled out of the remaining two away matches with a groin injury.
Matfield will captain the Springboks on Saturday at the Carisbrook Stadium.
Both the props that started last week in Wellington, CJ van der Linde and Gurthro Steenkamp, get another chance to make an impression in the scrums, a department that the Springboks struggled with in the first Test.
Springboks: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Conrad Jantjes.
Date: Saturday, July 12
Venue: Carisbrook, Dunedin
Kick-off: 19.35 (07.35 GMT)
Referee: Matt Goddard
(Australia)
Touch judges: James Leckie (Australia), Paul Marks (Australia)
Television match official: George Ayoub (Australia)
