The Springbok match 22 to face Australia in a Vodacom Tri-Nations Test at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday shows nine changes to the one that went down 17-31 against New Zealand in Wellington last week.  

There are four changes in the run-on XV and a further five on the reserves bench. 

Amongst the backs, Gio Aplon, who was on the bench in Wellington, starts in place of the suspended Jean de Villiers on the right wing and Ruan Pienaar is promoted to the starting line-up in place of Ricky Januarie at scrumhalf. 

Up front, BJ Botha starts ahead of CJ van der Linde at tighthead prop, whilst Ryan Kankowski is preferred to Francois Louw at flank. 

Van der Linde, who was cleared to play on Tuesday morning after receiving a knock to the shoulder last week, moves to the bench. Further changes here include lock Flip van der Merwe in place of the injured Andries Bekker, Dewald Potgieter as cover for loose forward, Francois Hougaard in place of Pienaar and Juan de Jongh replacing the promoted Aplon. 

Januarie and Louw fall out of the match 22. 

Speaking at a Press Conference on Tuesday, Springbok coach Peter de Villiers said he had based the selection on the expected match conditions at Suncorp Stadium. 

“Statistics show that Suncorp has the fastest playing surface in the Vodacom Super 14 and we have to be prepared for a faster game,” he said. 

“We have two tough games behind us, but if we stick to our structures and use our opportunities I believe this team is capable of getting a result.”

De Villiers added he expected a physical onslaught from the Wallabies at the weekend. 

The Springbok team is:
15 Zane Kirchner (Vodacom Bulls) – 9 caps
14 Gio Aplon (Vodacom Stormers) – 6 caps
13 Jaque Fourie (Vodacom Stormers) – 59 caps
12 Wynand Oliver (Vodacom Bulls) – 31 caps
11 Bryan Habana (Vodacom Stormers) – 62 caps
10 Morné Steyn (Vodacom Bulls) – 17 caps
9 Ruan Pienaar (The Sharks) – 42 caps
8 Pierre Spies (Vodacom Bulls) – 33 caps
7 Ryan Kankowski (The Sharks) – 14 caps
6 Schalk Burger (Vodacom Stormers) – 59 caps
5 Victor Matfield (Vodacom Bulls) – 97 caps
4 Danie Rossouw (Vodacom Bulls) – 50 caps
3 BJ Botha (Ulster) – 24 caps
2 John Smit (The Sharks, captain) – 98 caps
1 Gurthrö Steenkamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 27 caps 

Substitutes
16 Chiliboy Ralepelle (Vodacom Bulls) – 14 caps
17 CJ van der Linde (Vodacom Cheetahs) – 61 caps
18 Flip van der Merwe (Vodacom Bulls) – 2 caps
19 Dewald Potgieter (Vodacom Bulls) – 5 caps
20 Francois Hougaard (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap
21 Butch James (Bath) – 39 caps
22 Juan de Jongh (Vodacom Stormers) – 4 caps

Courtesy of sport24

47 Responses to 4 Changes to starting 15 for Bokke

  • 31

    @ sharky_forever:23

    Sharky, Have to agree with you. We need Juan when we get back if not then Deysel if he is over this injury. Let us see how Potties plays this Saturday. I would have had him start at 6 this weekend with Burger at 7 and Kanko at 8. NEVER ever Spies and Kanko together!!!! Crazy. These coaches are driving me bats now.

  • 32

    rudi , i put hougaard there as we know as scrummy he can kick with both feet

    you advocate playing pottie at 8thman where it to is make shift for him, but its not good for another player to do so?????

    i believe pottie and spies could make huge impact off the bench

    james has done nothing wrong, and m steyn has not set the world alight , i believe he struggles outside of south africa’s shores

    and im looking at an allout attacking game , and for that reason i chose like i have

    JDV played right wing and does not kick great at all , hougarrd i think will do better

    JPP is a left wing yet plays right wing for the boks , can not kick with his left foot for shit

    as for the bad mood boet , we all have problems , some just more then others 😆 we all have them days mate lol

  • 33

    puma , i have no problems with potties , infact i would have played him 6 and moved schalk to 7 with kanko at 8 as schalk does not fetch at all

    or like i have i left flo in my team as he is slow but still not a bad fetcher

    i wish spies could find his form , as ill never think of him as useless

    too much talent there , just maybe exhausted and off form , something most players go through

  • 34

    the reason i have spies and pottie on the bench is i believe they can make huge impact when comming on with 30 min to go

  • 35

    32@ sharky_forever:
    Pottie is a No 8 playing on the blindside at the Bulls…. his best possie is a No 8 Tjarkie… a No 8.

    Where did JP Pietersen play for the Sharks this past weekend? Right Wing! With which foot does JP Pietersen kick, Tjarkie…. tell me!

    Hougie prefers to kick with the right foot, have a look….

    Mvovo played left wing and scored 2 tries from there.

    James has done nothing wrong?? He’s done nothing right! Ek het myself so vir die knaap vervies toe hy opkom as sub en dadelik die ref die moer in maak teen Italië. Who kicks for goal Tjarkie… Butchie, come on! Is his kicking to posts anywhere near Morné Steyn’s accuracy…. never! Then I’d have Ruan kick for goal, rather than Butch, thank you very much!

  • 36

    @ grootblousmile:Ja I agree…we must keep these Maritaburg College boys out of the Bok team…. 😉

  • 37

    oops “Maritzburg”

  • 38

    Relax, this is a good team, we should control the set pieces all things being equal, we will battle at the breakdown, so we must just keep our own ball and tackle the crap out of the lighter Aussies.

  • 39

    What I want to know is the following…. how does one play an all-out attacking game with less possession than the opposition… which will happen on Saturday due to the chioce of loosies?

    Can the Bokke play an all-out attacking game, when we have not for the 6 Tests this year and for none of the Tests last year… I don’t think so… we’ll see more up-and-unders, we’ll see more kicking.

    Rather than playing all-out attack like the Wallabies, let’s rather play to our strenghts…. great set pieces (scrums and lineouts), good mauling, kick for the corners and keep the Ozzies pinned in their half, force mistakes and if we had a more balanced loosie combo, force the turn-overs and slow down their quality possession. But to be able to do this we need parity or better in the possession stakes, which is exactly the area we will suffer.

  • 40

    We better keep the ball off the ground as much as possible on Saturday, with this team.

  • 41

    @ grootblousmile:Dont forget who we have on the bench….I thought you were actually making a case for Butch there 😉

  • 42

    41@ 4man:
    The only case I’m making for Butch is a suitcase to pack his bags back to Bath…. hahahaha

  • 43

    @ grootblousmile:I was sitting on the front alwn just now drinking a Carling, dreaming of a Windhoek!!! brushing my Border Collie and watching the jets go through their tricks at the Farnborough airshow…lekkkkker dag vandag.

    Is it alright if Butch has a shower instead?

  • 44

    43@ 4man:
    The Airshow still on?

    I thought it was this past weekend!

    For all I care Butch can use a skrop-jammer-lap and a kommetjie as well…

  • 45

    Just add Patrick Lambie to the equation and we good to go. Duvenhange Should have been selected ass well.

  • 46

    goooooooooodmorning everyone!! hope everyone’s well?
    anyway
    woke up this morning with the folowing poem on my mind. cant think why, so hope someone out there is in need of a bit of inspiration today?

    It Couldn’t Be Done
    Edgar Guest

    Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
    But he with a chuckle replied
    That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
    Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
    So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
    On his face. If he worried he hid it.
    He started to sing as he tackled the thing
    That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

    Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that;
    At least no one ever has done it”;
    But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
    And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
    With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
    Without any doubting or quiddit,
    He started to sing as he tackled the thing
    That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

    There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
    There are thousands to prophesy failure;
    There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
    The dangers that wait to assail you.
    But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
    Just take off your coat and go to it;
    Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
    That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

  • 47

    The simple fact that underpins everything that is said here is that the Boks are a poorly coached/managed international team.
    It seems that we have little understanding of how to build an international team correctly over time.
    This starts with bad long term decisions such as trying to make Smit a tight head.
    We seem to believe the nonsense about how much depth we have and as a result, instead of building a team with consistent selection that allows combinations to grow over time in order to peak for a WC, we change selection based on what happens from game to game.
    This can never build a team and exposes the coaches rugby intellect.
    A winning team is a combination of experience and youth, and vital combinations such as in the front row, centre and half backs need to be moulded over many games together.
    Everybody knows that Tony Woodcock is the first choice loose head for the All Blacks.
    Everybody knows that McCaw is the first choice fetcher.
    Everybody knows that Carter is the first choice fly half.
    Okay, granted they are special players, but these type of players are built over years until they become the foundation of the team.
    What are we building?
    A fruit salad?
    A good coach will decide on who the best players are in each position for the immediate future and start to play them together, no matter what.
    Of course, don’t get me started on the game plan and tactics, that is another story!!

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