Springbok captain Jean de Villiers will on Saturday join four other South Africans when he leads the team out in his 100th Test, against New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington (kick-off 09:35 SA Time).
The Springbok match-23 to face New Zealand shows only one change from last weekend, with Handré Pollard starting at flyhalf.
The 33-year-old De Villiers will become the 34th Test player to reach this milestone. With him on the field will be two of the four South African centurions – the most-capped Springbok of all time, Victor Matfield (114 caps) and Bryan Habana, who reached this special milestone last weekend against Australia in Perth.
The other two Springbok centurions are John Smit (111) and Percy Montgomery (102).
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer lauded De Villiers, not only for the role he had played since taking over as captain in 2012, but also during the rest of his career, on the field and away from it.
“When the big names in South African rugby are mentioned, Jean will forever be among them,” said Meyer.
“He’s showed a lot of character and resilience to get here and to me, those are things that set him apart. Jean is not only an extremely good rugby player, but he’s also one of the greatest captains I’ve ever worked with.
“Jean is also a true ambassador for South Africa. To see how he is respected all over the world, is truly humbling and our fellow countrymen can be proud of him.
“Despite all of the success and responsibility, he’s never lost that sparkle in his eye and he treats everyone around him with respect.”
De Villiers, the SA Rugby Player of the Year in 2008 and 2013, will line up next to Pollard, whose inclusion in the starting line-up is the only change from the team which played in Perth last weekend. The bench is unchanged.
“We felt that Handré has the right skill set for how we want to approach this game,” said Meyer.
“He played well in the three Tests that he started. A couple of months ago, he was named the World Junior Player of the Year after some very impressive performances here for the Junior Springboks and I’m sure he can build on that.
“It’s also good for continuity to have an almost unchanged side. We know where we made mistakes last weekend and the players now have an opportunity to rectify those against the toughest opponent in world rugby.”
Springboks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (Captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Damian de Allende.
Stats and facts:
- The Springbok starting team boasts a total of 685 Test caps (319 in the backline and 366 in the forwards), while there are a further 142 caps worth of experience on the bench.
- South Africa and New Zealand have played each other 87 times since 1921, with the Springboks winning 34 tests, losing 50 and three was drawn. The Springboks have scored 1,355 points and 133 tries and conceded 1,679 points and 177 tries for an average score of 16-19.
- South Africa and New Zealand last met on 5 October, 2013 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg and the Springboks lost this Castle Lager Rugby Championship decider by 27-38.
- Jean de Villiers will be playing in his 100th Test for South Africa. He will become the fifth Springbok to achieve this feat behind Victor Matfield (114), John Smit (111), Percy Montgomery (102) and Bryan Habana (100).
- De Villiers will also extend his record as the most-capped Springbok centre, with 84 Tests in this position, as well as his own South African record of 47 Castle Lager Rugby Championship matches. He will captain South Africa for the 28th time, which places him fourth behind John Smit (83), Gary Teichmann (36) and Francois Pienaar (29).
- Victor Matfield will extend his own record as the most capped Springbok in history (114 Tests). He will also extend his own record of 114 Tests as a lock for He will also be playing against New Zealand for the 25th time to extend his own record.
- Bryan Habana will be playing in his 100th Test for South Africa on the wing. If he scores a try, he will extend his record of 56 Test tries as well as his Castle Lager Rugby Championship record of 18 tries and will extend his own SA record of seven career tries against New Zealand.
- If he goes on and scores a try, Bismarck du Plessis will extend his own record of eight Test tries for South Africa as a hooker.
- The referee is Jerome Garces of France. This will be his third Test involving South Africa. The Springboks have won both the previous Tests – the last being against Scotland on 17 November, 2013 at Murrayfield in Edinburgh (28-0).
Springbok Test match records at the Westpac Stadium, Wellington:
- Most points – 21 (1t, 5c, 2p) by Morne Steyn on 17 September, 2011 against Fiji.
- Most tries – one by nine players on eight occasions.
- Most conversions – five by Morne Steyn on 17 September, 2011 against Fiji.
- Most penalty goals – two by Morne Steyn on 17 September, 2011 against Fiji and by Morne Steyn again on 9 October, 2011 against Australia.
- Most drop goals – one by Werner Greeff 20 July, 2002 against New Zealand and by Morne Steyn on 9 October, 2011 against Australia.
Strange to see Bismarck remains on the bench, thought HM would pull him out for the All Black games
Ahhh much better. Pienaar still a massive problem but that is a positive move by HM.
Lambie definitely not ready to start a test at 10 yet and certainly not against the ABs.
@ nortierd:
Very strange. Particularly with no Alberts I would have thought Bissy would have been a definite starter here.
@ John Galt:
Yep, that seemed the norm last year as well, Adriaan against the Wallabies, and Bissie v the AB’s.
Huge responsibility on Pollard’s shoulders, this is his make or break game I think.
We still have the shit that is Ruin at 9.
We still have HM’s shit “kick every fucking ball away aimlessly” game plan.
We still have a passenger at 5 who takes lineout ball and vokol else.
HM is in panic mode. Last week Pollard couldn’t make the bench. Lamby was cover at 10. This week Pollard starts and Stain is nowhere.
The coach is a fool.
lol Lambie… eish
Playing Pollard is an enormous risk, but who cares, we were going to lose anyway?
@ Loosehead:
I don’t know about this move..as long as he makes his tackles and kicks…but Bok need more than that…so Pollard needs to put on some moves…but with those things you mentioned…probably won’t happen…
@ nortierd:
Quite harsh.
Make it break game in his third test.
😆
@ nortierd:
Agreed but Bismark’s lineout throwing has been farking sketchy of late.
We need good lineout ball against the Ball Sacks.
4 @ Loosehead:
Tackle Stats from Round three for the Boks
13-Matfield
11-Serfontein
10-Jdv
9-Duane
How useless must the rest of the team be if useless Matfield tops the tackle stats? lol
@ MacroBok:
Shouldn’t that HUGE hit by Duane maybe count as 2 or 3 regular tackles?
😀
Good move to bring Pollard back. He should never have been dropped in the first place and be given a chance to settle in the position.
Pity about Gysie’s son and the jolly jumper but it was to be expected. HM is never going to drop Victor, we must just accept it, he will start at the worldcup too.
To drop Bismark for the Teddy Bear is insane. I am speechless.
@ GoBokkeAndIreland:
haha I wonder how they recorded that, does it count if it was “illegal”?
MacroBok wrote:
Lies, damn lies, stats and rugby stats.
@ MacroBok:
11 Serfontein ?
That will piss Namatje off.
😆
@ MacroBok:
LOL! Good point.
@ robzim:
Well I watched the game and Matfield was making a lot of tackles, so Sky Sports must also be liars lol
Fox sports sorry
MacroBok wrote:
Watch the game. He is totally out of his depth.
@ Loosehead:
I would suggest YOU watch the game, but it would be pointless as we already made up our minds.
@ MacroBok:
To be fair he only watched it out of one eye.
😆
@ gunther:
I suspect some people have already done their rating s of individual players for the all black game 🙂
Handré to do to the Daddy Blacks what he did to the Baby Blacks…!! Give them a right rollicking rogering…!!
Jean to captain the Boks to a famous win in his 100th game.
You heard it here first.
Go Bokke…!!
@ ufo:
Indeed a comprehensive two out of two wasn’t it?
😆
Soooo…after 2019 will South Africa’s national rugby team be known as “The Half Blacks”?
@ BrumbiesBoy:
Well technically the half Blacks will be limited in their numbers because of the need for appropriate representation by the full blacks.
seems like one could make a few bucks this weekend with a small bet or two. bokke for a FAMOUS win here!
@ gunther:
Ha, yes. I don’t think our friend Tony Ehrenreich has quite worked that one out yet.
He’s going to be uber upset once the penny drops.
@ John Galt:
Indeed.
Especially when Jimmy Myani tells him to move to Polokwane because there are too many cullard trad unionists in the Cape.
😆
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