De Villiers tweaks his Bok team
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:31
Facing the media: Bok coach Peter de Villiers
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has made some interesting changes to his team for their crucial Tri-Nations encounter with the Wallabies at the Subiaco Oval on Saturday - South Africa's third and final game on the road.
Pierre Spies, Francois Steyn and Conrad Jantjes all return to the Bok team, while Schalk Brits will make his run-on debut for the Boks in place of the suspended Bismarck du Plessis.
Spies got the nod ahead of Joe van Niekerk at No.8, after the latter played in the opening two rounds of the Tri-Nations - a 8-19 loss to the All Blacks in Wellington and a historic 30-28 win in Dunedin last week.
World Cup-winning centre Steyn replaces the injured Adrian Jacobs in the No.13 jersey - with Jacobs having failed to recover from the hamstring injury that he sustained in Dunedin.
Jantjes reclaims the No.15 jersey from veteran Percy Montgomery.
Newcomer Adriaan Strauss, who joined the squad on Wednesday as back-up hooker, was included as one of the replacements.
Also on the bench is Ryan Kankowski, who gets a deserved chance in the place of Luke Watson as loose forward cover.
Tendai Mtawarira joins fellow Zimbabwean Brian Mujati as the prop replacement on the bench.
Peter Grant provides backline cover, along with Ruan Pienaar, on a bench that has a five-forwards-two-backs split.
The changes at fullback and No.8 could be an indication that the Boks expect a more expansive game against the Wallabies - who do not provide the same physical test a the All Blacks, but rather prefer a ball-in-hand, phase-play game.
Flank Juan Smith is edging closer towards his half century in Test caps and he now needs only two more caps to join a selected group of players who have represented the Springboks on 50 occasions or more.
South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Francois Steyn, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James,
9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Ryan Kankowski, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Peter Grant.
Date: Saturday, July 19
Venue: Subiaco Oval, Perth
Kick-off: 18.05 (10.05 GMT)
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
TMO: Garrat Newman (New Zealand)
