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.
@ Ashley:
You’ll have to speak to Hondkak he’s the resident sports better here.
😆
Ashley wrote:
Now is the time to bet if one thinks the Boks will spring a surprise….
“The Springboks will lose to the All Blacks in their Rugby Championship Test in Wellington on Saturday – and fail to pick up a losing bonus point – if bookmakers are to be believed.
The All Blacks, coming off a 28-9 victory over Argentina, have been installed as 8.5-handicap point favourites for the match by leading SA bookies BetFlash, meaning they are expected to deny the Boks a losing bonus point.
This, BEFORE the All Blacks have even named their match-day 23!”
I think a lazy gorilla on the Boks might be a worthwhile investment.
😆
Tackles made so far by SA players in the RC 2014
Coetzee 34 average 17 didn’t play full 3 tests
Louw 30 average 10
Vermulen 26 average 8+
Etzbeth 24 average 10 didn’t play full 3 tests
All those 4 above are renown tacklers, Matfield isn’t, very much to the opposite; he is a reluctant defender
That 13 tackles figure is a nonsense, I watched the test twice, he contributed very little
Loosehead wrote:
5
No doubt he is
Hondkaks own “special” stats.
Eyes wide shut.
😆
The fact that Argentina scored 3 times against the Boks should have made alarm bells ring regarding the defense out wide.
Against Australia, it doesn’t matter who made how many tackles, it only took one miss and the game was gone.
AB’s don’t just run well, and if they do encounter stern defense in the backline, they have the grubber option as well.
nortierd wrote:
37
The Argies exploited Matfield’s absence 😆
btw, the odds moved from NZ 1:3 to a 1:4 since HM has announced his selection
Is there any linkage here ? 😉
just asking,,,,
@ Hondo:
Won’t be much money to be made, unless Boks lose by 7 or less.
Those same Argie wings who had such a good time scoring in Salta have both been dropped just 1 game later.
@ Hondo:
You mean like the linkage between your mouth and your brain?
What else could it be Scotland’s departure from the Union?
😆
@ nortierd:
I thought they dropped one of them for the All Black game?
@ gunther:
I see both are out now for the side to face the Aussies
@ gunther:
Their backline doesn’t really matter, they have the forwards to take on OZ, but not the backs.
They should never have scored so easily against us.
The Wallaby backline will do some damage with limited front foot ball
@ nortierd:
Ok if you say so.
😆
@ nortierd:
btw Nortried, just to settle the Pienaar- FdP argument:
In 2013
At NZ: Boks with Pienaar lost by 14 points playing a Test with 14 player effectively throughout at Eden Park
At Ellis Park: Boks lost with FdP by 11 points playing the full Test with 15 players, where FdP for Pienaar was the only change in selection
Now
– How many ad. points playing at Ellis Park (and altitude) were worth for the Boks?
– how many ad points playing with an extra player were worth for the Boks?
clearly FdP is detrimental vs the ABs
@ Hondo:
Two completely different games those, the AB’s do better away in Arg and SA on the hard, dry fields in good weather than they do at home.
@ Hondo:
That’s your argument?
Completely different scenarios.
Do you forget that we were playing for the bonus point win?
Go and stand in the corner.
😆
39 @ nortierd:
Ahem… don’t the Argies chop and change their teams anyway?
Then again Arg players dont get injured?
45 @ Hondo:
47 @ gunther:
Fokket hahaha hilarious
@ nortierd:
I see,,,
😉
Which makes the Boks a wet weather, soaking underfoot pitch’s specialists?
Better check how many times last 20 years the ABs won at Ellis Park?
😉
MacroBok wrote:
Press report Macro…
Argentina have dumped both their starting wingers as they aim for a maiden Rugby Championship victory on Saturday night against the Wallabies on the Gold Coast.
The Pumas have made three changes to the run-on side which fell 28-9 to the All Blacks last weekend, with suspended lock Tomas Lavanini replaced by the youthful Matias Alemanno in the only alteration to their powerful forward pack.
50 @ Hondo:
Not what I said.
In NZ they beat Arg by between 10-20, in Arg they beat them by 35 plus.
Huge difference.
Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum.
All day long I’d biddy biddy bum.
If I were a wealthy man.
I wouldn’t have to work hard.
Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum.
If I were a biddy biddy rich,
Idle-diddle-daidle-daidle man.
Nancy wrote:
Because Matfield is not a “renowned” tackler you discard his stats, while accepting the others.
Ignorance is bliss lol
@ nortierd:
You see that is the problem with modern, western media, they wont go through the effort of translating…
Hourcade va a realizar tres cambios. Uno es el ingreso de Matías Alemanno en la segunda línea en lugar del suspendido Tomás Lavanini, que metió un topetazo ante los All Blacks y se quedó afuera de este partido ante los Wallabies. Pero el conductor argentino también mete mano en las puntas: Juan Imhoff será el wing derecho por Lucas González Amorosino y Manuel Montero entrará por Horacio Agulla del lado izquierdo.
In other words, this guy Lannini took a bump somewhere, not sure where I dont speak spanish 😀
Guess the other guy was “dropped” or rotated, no idea.
macro @ 55
en vi wat vloek jy so?
55 @ MacroBok:
I meant both were “dropped” or rotated.
I wonder if Morne was left out due to contractual issues with his club?
If they had faith in Pollard, why not play him against Aus?
@ MacroBok:
All I was actually saying earlier was simply that the tries scored against us was worrying, as it showed that our defense out wide isn’t up to scratch. There is no way their backline will manage 3 tries against NZ or Oz.
The point is not how good their wings are, whether they have 4 equally good guys to choose from or not, but merely that our defense is lacking
Or was Steyns destiny decided by one kick?
While 5 minutes before the end he was in consideration for man of the match last week… 5 minutes later he is completely left out… whoa?
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