Springboks forced into changes for Fiji clash

Sep 15 • International, Rugby World Cup News, RWC 2011, Springbok News, Springboks • 1888 Views • Comments Off on Springboks forced into changes for Fiji clash

The Springboks on Thursday made four changes to their starting line-up and two more on the bench when they named the team to meet Fiji in their Pool D Rugby World Cup 2011 match in Wellington on Saturday. Four of the six changes have been forced by injury.

Lock Victor Matfield (hamstring) and backs Butch James (hip flexor), Jean de Villiers (rib cartilage) and Bryan Habana (patella tendon) were all unavailable for selection due to injury. A fifth player, Johann Muller, will undergo a late fitness test on a tight hamstring. If he is unavailable he will be replaced on the bench by Francois Louw.

Matfield’s place is taken by the returning Bakkies Botha; Odwa Ndungane steps into the left wing berth in place of Habana; Pat Lambie starts at fullback with Francois Steyn moving forward to fill De Villiers’ inside centre berth and James’ place on the bench is taken by the versatile Ruan Pienaar who has appeared at scrumhalf, flyhalf and fullback for the Springboks.

In addition, Springbok coach Peter de Villiers made two tactical changes. Gurthrö Steenkamp was promoted to start at loosehead prop in place of Tendai Mtawarira (who drops to the bench) while the return to a conventional four/three split between forwards and backs among the replacements opens the way for Juan de Jongh to make a first appearance on a Rugby World Cup teamsheet.

De Villiers said Willem Alberts would act as a replacement lock if Muller failed to recover sufficiently.

“We have had injury problems at lock but we have versatile players to cover for most situations,” said De Villiers. “Danie Rossouw has now been picked to start at 4, 5, 7 and 8 this season and will call the lineouts this weekend.

“Willem Alberts is on the bench to cover four of the back five positions in the pack and we have a couple of scrumhalves on the bench who cover three other positions as well, so we are fortunate.

“Against a tough proposition like Fiji you’d prefer to have all your players available but this is tournament rugby and we picked our squad knowing that we would have to cover for many situations.”

The Springboks have played Fiji twice before, winning both games. In 1996 they recorded a 43-18 win in Pretoria before recording a momentarily tense, 37-20 victory over Fiji in the quarterfinals of the 2007 tournament.

Saturday’s match kicks off at 18h00 (08h00 SA time).

South Africa v Fiji, 17 September 2011, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington

No	Player	Province	Caps
15	Pat Lambie	KwaZulu-Natal	7
14	JP Pietersen	KwaZulu-Natal	39
13	Jaque Fourie	Western Province	65
12	Frans Steyn	Racing Metro, France	44
11	Odwa Ndungane	KwaZulu-Natal	8
10	Morné Steyn	Blue Bulls	30
9	Fourie du Preez	Blue Bulls	58
8	Pierre Spies	Blue Bulls	43
7	Schalk Burger	Western Province	64
6	Heinrich Brüssow	Free State Cheetahs	16
5	Danie Rossouw	Blue Bulls	59
4	Bakkies Botha	Blue Bulls	74
3	Jannie du Plessis	KwaZulu-Natal	27
2	John Smit (captain)	KwaZulu-Natal	107
1	Gurthrö Steenkamp	Blue Bulls	34
Replacements
16	Bismarck du Plessis	KwaZulu-Natal	39
17	Tendai Mtawarira	KwaZulu-Natal	29
18	Johann Muller	Ulster, N Ireland	24
19	Willem Alberts	KwaZulu-Natal	5
20	Francois Hougaard	Blue Bulls	11
21	Ruan Pienaar	Ulster, N Ireland	49
22	Juan de Jongh	Western Province	8