Jantjes pips centurion Montgomery
Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:09
Mean in green: Conrad Jantjes is back in the Bok starting line-up
Springbok coach Peter De Villiers has 'axed' his most capped player, when he announced his matchday 22 to face the Wallabies in this weekend's Tri-Nations clash against Australia in Durban.
Montgomery's demotion to the bench after last week's 0-19 loss to the All Blacks in New Zealand is probably the biggest surprise in this week's team selection after various Bok players experienced an off day in that Test.
De Villiers explained his reasoning behind the selection, and said that the Boks were looking at implementing a faster tempo in Saturday's Test against Australia.
"The All Blacks have some great tactical kickers so in a sense we had to slow the game down last week," De Villiers told the media in Durban.
"The Aussies don't have great tactical kickers and we have to speed things up. That's why we've gone with Jantjes."
Blue Bulls star Fourie Du Preez also keeps hold of the No.9 jersey ahead of Ricky Januarie, despite looking short of match sharpness in Cape Town.
"I think Fourie does have a yard or two on Ricky. Other than that, I don't think there's much difference between the two," De Villiers explained.
The Bok coach as expected also recalled Cheetahs speedster Jongi Nokwe to the Springbok starting line-up, after Bryan Habana was ruled out for around 10 days with a hamstring tear.
However, the Springbok bench has a strange look to it, with no specialist cover in the lock position.
It was expected that Danie Rossouw would once again provide back-up to the second row off the bench, but the player has been omitted from the match squad.
De Villiers once again explained that the change was an enforced one, but that the Boks would employ Juan Smith as an emergency lock, if the need arose.
"The decision to omit Danie Rossouw was on behalf of the player," said the coach.
"Juan [Smith] will cover there if needed, but at the moment we have two locks ready to play 150 minutes. Eighty might not be enough."
The Boks do have plenty of reinforcement in the back row, with both Luke Watson and Joe van Niekerk on the bench to help the Boks in the problematic area of the breakdown.
The South Africans have been struggling to recycle their own possession at the tackle point in their last two Tri-Nations matches, and have suffered countless turnovers in possession after being outmaneuvered by the Australian and New Zealand loose forwards.
The Boks will be desperate to win back some pride after all but blowing their chances of winning this year's Tri-Nations with a error-strewn performance at Newlands against the All Blacks.
South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JP Pietersen, 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 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du
Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Joe van Niekerk, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Frans Steyn, 22 Percy Montgomery.
Date: Saturday, August 23
Venue: Absa Stadium, Durban
Time: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)
Touch judges: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Rob Debney (England)
TMO: Romain Poite (France)
Assessor: Bob Francis (New Zealand)
