De Villiers sticks to his Bok guns
Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:10
All smiles: Bok coach Peter de Villiers
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has resisted the temptation to make panic selections, making minimal changes to the team to face the Wallabies in South Africa's final Tri-Nations Test of the year - in Johannesburg on Saturday.
There are two enforced changes to the starting XV - with Odwa Ndungane coming in for the injured JP Pietersen on the right wing and Brian Mujati starting at tighthead prop in place of the suspended CJ van der Linde.
The other changes are to the bench, where Jannie du Plessis, Ruan Pienaar and Danie Rossouw come into the matchday 22.
Du Plessis, recalled this week after having last played for the Boks at the World Cup in France last year, will fill the gap left by Mujati's promotion to the starting XV.
Pienaar comes in for his Sharks teammate Francois Steyn, who is having a shocking season, while Rossouw replaces Toulon-bound Joe van Niekerk on a bench that last week had no lock cover.
Having lost four of his last five matches, including the last three Tests, there is enormous pressure on De Villiers to turn the team's ailing fortunes around.
It was expected that he would make some changes, considering the poor form of a number of World Cup-winning Boks throughout the Teri-Nations series.
However, De Villiers resisted the lure of the panic button and continued to back his players - despite the inability of the squad to embrace his expansive game plan.
The coach, who along with his captain Victor Matfield was booed off the field by an angry crowd after the 15-27 loss in Durban last week, has again asked the public to be "patient" with his team.
He said repeatedly this week that the team is "close" to turning it all around.
De Villiers believes it would be "meaningless" to make unforced changes at this stage of the season.
"It was a temptation [to make changes], but I studied the game [against the Wallabies in Durban] and I felt we weren't too bad," he told a media gathering on Thursday.
"If we lose three in a row, how can you change that. Winning and losing are the same thing to me, it's just that winning is much nicer."
South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Andries Bekker, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Percy Montgomery.
Date: Saturday, August 30
Venue: Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand), Rob Debney
(England)
TMO: Romain Poite (France)
