Bakkies Botha, captain of the World XV side to face the Springboks
Bakkies Botha will captain the World XV against South Africa’s Springboks at DHL Newlands in Cape Town this Saturday.
The veteran lock leads an experienced side containing former Springboks JJ Engelbrecht (Blue Bulls) and Gurthrö Steenkamp (Toulouse) and with Flip van der Merwe (Blue Bulls) among the replacements.
Head Coach Robbie Deans described Botha, 35, as the “natural choice” to take charge as the invitation side prepare to test Heyneke Meyer’s men as they start their build-up to the Rugby World Cup.
“For a long time Bakkies has been a huge presence in the game here so it’ll be a real occasion when he leads the World XV out against his country,” said Deans.
“He’s really enjoyed this week, mixing with those he’s played against and he’s been a big contributor in helping the group come together. He was leading before he was appointed leader.”
The World XV have a battle-hardened pack with Botha (85 caps), lining up with New Zealand’s Ali Williams (77 caps) in the 2nd row, while props Steenkamp (53 caps) and Carl Hayman (45 caps) also bring significant experience.
There are 8 of Toulon’s treble-winning European champions in the starting side, including 2 brothers in fullback Delon Armitage and flanker Steffon Armitage (2014 European Player of the Year).
Deans added: “This is an important game for South Africa. They’ve got a Rugby Championship game next weekend so they’ll be looking for a good hit-out and we’ll provide that for them. We want to be competitive in the 1st instance so we can assist them in their build-up.
“There’s a few locals in the group and it’ll be a unique experience for them but there’s also a lot of blokes who have played Test rugby, who may not get the chance to play at Newlands again so it’s going to be special for many reasons.
“We’ve also got some young blokes who have yet to taste Test rugby but who will do in the future and it’s a great occasion for them. If it’s not a 1st Test cap, it’s as close as you can get.”
World XV: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Lachlan Turner, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 David Smith, 10 Mike Harris, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Jordan Taufua, 5 Bakkies Botha (Captain), 4 Ali Williams, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp
Replacements: 16 David Roumieu, 17 Alexandre Menini, 18 Petrus du Plessis, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Louis-Benoit Madaule, 21 Maxime Machenaud, 22 Andrew Horrell, 23 Rudi Wulf.
Date: Saturday 11 July
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-Off: 17:00 SA Time (15:00 GMT)
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa), Jason Jaftha (South Africa)
TMO: Deon van Blommestein (South Africa)
The World XV is a strong side, specially the forwards!
Backline does not inspire much, so it’s a good chance for Damian de Allende & Jesse Kriel to do what they need to do.
Gurthro will make Jannie look good in the scrums which would be a real misrepresentation of his form and abilities, setting us up for a hammering later in the year…
2 @ Stormersboy:
I agree… flok, there we go agreeing again!
@ grootblousmile:
Don’t get used to it!
😀 😀
Bakkies – What a bruiser !! 😀
What is the real use of this game?
IMHO it would be better to play against a SA Barbarians of SA “A” side made up of fringe players and upcoming development players.
There would be FAR more motivation for the opposition.
World XV squad have a great all expenses paid holiday in view of flat top mountain, pitch up for a run around on the weekend, don’t even look at the scoreboard and then go “home” nice and relaxed.
Not sure it will teach HM and co much at all.
I suppose it gives us all an excuse to light a fire, get rat arsed and while away an otherwise boring weekend though!
@ Scrumdown:
A good old Springbok trial would be exciting.
MacroPolo wrote:
Televised!
@ MacroPolo:
I also miss those “North v South” games we used to have in the “bad old days” of isolation.
And who remembers the “Test Unions Day”‘s they used to have, where all of the 6 Provincial Test Unions played on the same day at the same ground.
Eish. Old age and nostalgia!
In the words of Billy Joel: “The good old days weren’t always good, and tomorrow aint as bad as it seems.”
Bakkies looking decidely “portly” in that photo’.
The world xv could have a hard time… If Mallets team got thumped last year then this team has little hope, Mallet is afterall a superior strategist to every without fail with 3 or 4 plans incase his first strategy (To attack the Springbok scrum) does not work out. 😆 …oh wait.
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