Coach Peter De Villiers has dropped Springbok Captain John Smit to the bench for this weekend’s clash against the All Blacks.There is a new front row, a new loose forward combination, a new half back combination and a new fullback.
The seemingly very unfit Gurthro Steenkamp gets a start above the in form Beast. John Smit is usurped by Bismark and Danie Russouw is benched in favour of Willem Alberts. In the back line Morné Steyn is preferred to Butch James, and Patrick Lambie is elevated into the starting 15, Gio Aplon is out of the match day 22. CJ van der Linde and Ashley Johnson are the new additions to the bench.
South Africa v New Zealand, 20 August 2011, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
15 Pat Lambie (The Sharks), 6 Test caps
14 JP Pietersen (The Sharks), 37
13 Jaque Fourie (DHL Western Province), 63
12 Jean de Villiers (DHL Western Province), 68
11 Bryan Habana (DHL Western Province), 69
10 Morné Steyn (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 28
9 Fourie du Preez (Suntory, Japan), 56
8 Pierre Spies (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 41
7 Willem Alberts (The Sharks), 3
6 Heinrich Brüssow (Toyota Free State Cheetahs), 14
5 Victor Matfield (captain) (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 106
4 Bakkies Botha (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 73
3 Jannie du Plessis (The Sharks), 25
2 Bismarck du Plessis (The Sharks), 37
1 Gurthrö Steenkamp (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 32
Replacements
16 John Smit (The Sharks), 105
17 Tendai Mtawarira (The Sharks), 27
18 CJ van der Linde (MTN Golden Lions), 71
19 Danie Rossouw (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 57
20 Ashley Johnson (Toyota Free State Cheetahs), 2
21 Francois Hougaard (Vodacom Blue Bulls), 9
22 Butch James (MTN Golden Lions), 41
HISTORICAL RECORD
• This is the first Castle Tri-Nations Test match in Port Elizabeth.
• South Africa’s record against New Zealand is: Played 82; Won 33; Lost 46; Drawn 3; Points for 1 268; Points against 1 554; Tries for 125; Tries against 161; Average score 15-19.
• South Africa’s Castle Tri-Nations record against New Zealand is: Played 35; Won 10; Lost 25; Points for 685; Points against 987; Tries for 62; Tries against 93. Average score 20-28.
• South Africa’s home record in the Castle Tri-Nations against New Zealand is: Played 17; Won 7; Lost 10; Points for 391; Points against 474; Tries for 36; Tries against 45. Average score 23-28.
MILESTONES
• Victor Matfield makes 111th appearance in the Springbok jersey to equal the record of Joost van der Westhuizen. Matfield extends the following records: Most capped Springbok and lock to 107 caps; most capped Springbok against New Zealand to 24 and also most capped Springbok in the Castle Tri-Nations to 43 appearances.
• Jaque Fourie and Jean de Villiers extend their record for most Springbok appearances as a centre pairing in the starting line-up in tests to 24.
• Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha will extend their World Record for most appearances as a lock combination in the starting line-up to 62.
• Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis will appear in their sixteenth test together as brothers, eight more Tests than Carel and Michael du Plessis between 1984 and 1989.
• The following players will extend their Springbok records as follows: Bryan Habana – 69th test as wing; Jean de Villiers – 55th test as centre.
Smacks of panic to me……………………..
Steenkamp looked very out of his depth against the Aussies, now he will be tested by an excellent All Black front row.
Gmpffff
Gurthro in the starting lineup?? Neewat, he should have played his way back at the Blue Bulls.
I don’t have a problem with Willem Alberts starting at No 7…
Morné Steyn better shine… otherwise it’s tickets for him and the Bokke.
Lambie at Fullback makes perfect sense seeing as Frans Steyn is injured…. maybe even for the whole World Cup as well.
Bar Gurthro, not a bad side at all!
Well lets see what happens on Saturday.
I fear that Snor could coach the Grey Bloem 1st XV into a losing side.
I understand that they are trying to give Guthro game time but why don’t they do it at Currie Cup level. The mind boggles.
Gotta give Guthro a go, prove once and for all if he can make it. At least it looks, with this side, that perhaps we will win – go on, make my year, and if/when Guthro is seen to be pure nonsense, he can be replaced by a real impact player! Fly half channel worries me a bit though. Lose this one, and there really will be nothing to look forward to over the next couple of months! But fear not, I feel it in my water
@ Winston:
Hi Winston, yes these coaches we have is really otherwise. I wish this whole episode just go away. I really hope they dont do it like the ABs did and give him another 4 year stint.
I cant wait for the cricket season to start, hope that Gary can do to us what he did for India.
@ Just For Kicks:
i really hope Morne gets his act togheter. It is such a comfortable feeling when he lines up his kicks, you almost know the points will be there. We wont be that bad with him in full flight, remember 2009 when he was the general, if he can get back to that form many teams will suffer.
Let’s just hope they have gotten rid of the rust. Hopefully they sweated enough in durban to be ready for this B All Black team that doesn’t sound so B to me.
You see.
Don’t support WeeePeee.
agreee.
I feel we in panic mode here or we just using this test to try out players again.
I would rather we had settled down with the team we had last week and only changed players where we had injuries and of course Danie. Danie was just not great at 7.
The mind boggles really with the changes. Players won’t have a clue where they stand. Some in one week some out and on it goes. Doubt we will know who will be our team come the Wales game. If we had no clue and needed game time we should have then sent a full strength team down under to try this out. I feel this is now a bit late. We needed more consistency with our team. Teams need plenty game time together to gel.
Good to see Lambie back. He really deserved to be in this team let alone the squad.
Go Bokke. Will still support my team even if I don’t think some should be starting. Players don’t select themselves.
Think Steenkamp needs game time the reason Beast is on the bench. Otherwise have no idea why he is starting. But that has to be the case. We do need him game ready.
Still would have started with Beast and the play Steenkamp for the 2nd half.
@ superBul:Nice thought, ahhh, 2009, but hey, we haven’t seen those days for a while. But yes, I hope as you do he can regain some of that old form!
@ Just For Kicks:
i just like the way NZ and AUS plays their no 12. I wont mind Butch there , but we have not tried it for a while and it would be too risky now.
@ Loosehead:1 – Agree. I have fears of 1974 all over again. We panicked then and changed the team alsmost every test and we got totally slaughtered.
We should have stuck with the same team as last week. Only changes should have been for the injured players.
Ming boggling. Some players must feel even more confused than us! hahaha. Not a laughing matter but really that is all I can do right now.
Just been reading the best thread ever on Keo – ‘Bismarck’s back’. Good old cat fight between Helen and Ethel – had me in hysterics. Even took my mind off the rugby! Read it if you have a chance, guaranteed, you will leave work with a smile on your face! What has Keo become?
@ superBul:
Hi Super, yeah you also called it in 2010 that Dick and Gary Glitter Gold would be the downfall of the Boks and that is exactly what happened, I have seen more creativity in an Under 14B side than the Current Bok A and B Team.
@ Just For Kicks:
Keo is a good site with some really knowledgeable bloggers but the reason I can’t blog there is everything usually turns into an insult hurling contest and / or a race thing starts.
@ Winston:…And that is exactly what it was – between 2 women though, and that is what made it so hilarious
The Boks are playing on Sat to defend another record : they are the only team in the Tri-Nations who’ve never been whitewashed in a year.
NZ lost all their matches in 1998 and the Wobblies all theirs in 2005.
Oh, and the Boks have never lost in PE vs NZ.
And we’ve only ever lost there once. That was vs 1974 Lions! Not bad!
But records are made to be broken. Even though I am convinced that the Bokke will win on Sat. I tipped them to beat the Wobblies in Durban, but I never really convinced myself.
“Butch is a brilliant flyhalf but, hey I might be wrong , but to me the Rugby World Cup will be dictated by kicks and we sit with a 90 percent kicker in our country,” de Villiers said of Steyn’s greatest talent.
“How will we know what stuff we need to work on with Morne if we don’t play him with the best players, and work on the little stuff we know can make a difference. Our play differs so much to the way the Bulls play, so I can’t disqualify him for just doing his job overseas in the Tri-Nations without players he knows.
“He needs to be assessed with guys around him that he is comfortable with, and he has not had a chance to play with the top Boks for six months, so this was not a difficult choice and the right one.”
It make sense to me –
De Villiers also backed his under-siege skipper Smit, saying he deserved a rest after playing the first three Tri-Nations matches which all ended in defeat. Smit is part of a reserves bench that features five forwards.
“John is ready for the Rugby World Cup – he came good in the Tri-Nations. If you look at how he played in Sydney in the first test … well he improved each match. We have achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve with him in giving him three full games to get back into the groove.
@ Just For Kicks:
@ Winston:
I haven’t been on Keo since this site started up.
Cape Town – Peter de Villiers has assured newly selected Springbok fullback, Patrick Lambie, that there’s no chance of him being shifted around in the Springbok backline during Saturday’s Castle Tri-Nations clash against the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth.
Which is a relief given the various jerseys the gifted young player has donned in recent weeks. Having seen the movie in which players are used in every position except scrumhalf (except in the case of Ruan Pienaar, another player often played out of position) before, a repeat of what happened to former Springbok utility back, Brent Russell, is something all Springbok fans would want to avoid.
It seems these days that a players versatility, while useful when putting together a substitutes bench, can often count against permanent selection into the run on side. Current players that have the potential to fall into that trap include Lambie, Pienaar, Francois Hougaard and Danie Rossouw, while John Smit, recently voted by Sports Illustrated as the greatest Springbok ever, may well be remembered by some as a poor prop!
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