Rugby World Cup winners Schalk Burger and JP Pietersen will start Saturday’s second Test in the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour against England at Twickenham as the Springbok match-23 is retained from last weekend.
The five changes to the team for Saturday (kick-off 16h30 SA time) are straight swaps between the starting line-up and the bench.
Along with Pietersen and DHL Stormers star Burger (one of four DHL Stormers/DHL WP players in the starting team), Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has handed starts to hooker Adriaan Strauss and the halfback pairing of Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie.
Cornal Hendricks, Handré Pollard, Francois Hougaard, Teboho Mohoje and Bismarck du Plessis will start on the bench this week.
“We’ve accepted our performance against Ireland last weekend was not up to scratch and everyone in the touring squad has put up their hands and dug deep this week,” said Meyer.
“We’ve really worked hard at fixing the mistakes we made and the challenge is now to put that into action on Saturday.”
Meyer said the changes were not a knee-jerk reaction following the result in Dublin, but rather in line with rotational changes that he had in mind before the start of the tour.
Strauss, Lambie and Pietersen all started in the Springboks’ last Test at Twickenham, two years ago, while Saturday’s match will be Reinach’s first in the starting team.
“Pat started at Twickenham for us two years ago and did very well,” said Meyer. “He’s playing well at the moment and I wanted to give him the opportunity to start. Pat is tactically very astute and even though he’s still pretty young, he’s got a lot of experience.
“Adriaan, Schalk and JP have all started a number of Tests this year and they will slot in easily – we decided beforehand that we wanted to start all of these players in one of the first two Tests on tour.
“It’s a big occasion for Cobus but he would not have been here if we didn’t believe he could deliver the goods, and he’ll be next to his provincial teammate in Pat.
“As usual, we’re also expecting our replacements to raise the intensity when they’re sent on and Bismarck, who had a very good game in Dublin especially in the set-pieces, ‘Oupa’, Francois, Cornal and Handré will provide important cover off the bench.”
The Springbok team to face England in London is:
15. Willie le Roux – 22 caps
14. JP Pietersen – 57 caps
13. Jan Serfontein – 17 caps
12. Jean de Villiers (captain) – 103 caps
11. Bryan Habana – 104 caps
10. Pat Lambie – 37 caps
9. Cobus Reinach – 3 caps
8. Duane Vermeulen – 26 caps
7. Schalk Burger – 74 caps
6. Marcell Coetzee – 23 caps
5. Victor Matfield (vice-captain) – 118 caps
4. Eben Etzebeth – 30 caps
3. Jannie du Plessis – 61 caps
2. Adriaan Strauss – 41 caps
1. Tendai Mtawarira – 62 caps
Replacements:
16. Bismarck du Plessis – 67 caps
17. Trevor Nyankane – 10 caps
18. Coenie Oosthuizen – 18 caps
19. Bakkies Botha – 84 caps
20. Teboho ‘Oupa’ Mohoje – 4 caps
21. Francois Hougaard – 33 caps
22. Handré Pollard – 7 caps
23. Cornal Hendricks – 10 caps
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Nick Briant (New Zealand)
Television Match Official: Eric Gauzins (France)
