The Springboks on Tuesday made five changes to the starting line-up for their Rugby World Cup Pool D match against southern African neighbours Namibia at North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, on Thursday.
South Africa v Namibia, 22 September 2011, North Harbour Stadium, Auckland
Wing Gio Aplon, scrumhalf Francois Hougaard, utility forward Willem Alberts and tighthead prop CJ van der Linde were all given their first starts of the tournament while Bryan Habana was recalled from injury to resume in the No 11 jersey.
Four players were unavailable for selection due to injury, while Springbok coach Peter de Villiers opted to bring in fresh legs in the hope of sustaining the team’s momentum. Locks Victor Matfield and Johann Muller, centre Jean de Villiers and flyhalf Butch James were not considered for the match.
Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez and flanker Heinrich Brüssow both dropped to the bench while wings JP Pietersen and Odwa Ndungane and tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis were rested all together. In one other change on the bench, Chiliboy Ralepelle was included in a match 22 for the first time when he was drafted in for Bismarck du Plessis, who is also rested.
Thursday’s match kicks off at 20h00 (10h00 SA time).
South Africa v Namibia, 22 September 2011, North Harbour Stadium, Auckland
15 Pat Lambie (KwaZulu-Natal) – 8 caps
14 Gio Aplon (Western Province) – 15
13 Jaque Fourie (Western Province) – 66
12 Frans Steyn (Racing Metro, France) – 45
11 Bryan Habana (Western Province) – 71
10 Morné Steyn (Blue Bulls) – 31
9 Francois Hougaard (Blue Bulls) – 12
8 Pierre Spies (Blue Bulls) – 44
7 Schalk Burger (Western Province) – 65
6 Willem Alberts (KwaZulu-Natal) – 6
5 Danie Rossouw (Blue Bulls) – 60
4 Bakkies Botha (Blue Bulls) – 75
3 CJ van der Linde (Golden Lions) – 72
2 John Smit (captain, KwaZulu-Natal) – 108
1 Gurthrö Steenkamp (Blue Bulls) – 35
Replacements
16 Chiliboy Ralepelle (Blue Bulls) – 20
17 Tendai Mtawarira (KwaZulu-Natal) – 30
18 Francois Louw (Bath, England) – 7
19 Heinrich Brüssow (Free State) – 17
20 Fourie du Preez (Blue Bulls) – 59
21 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster, N Ireland) – 50
22 Juan de Jongh (Western Province) – 9
Bench quite interesting
18 Francois Louw (Bath, England) – 7
19 Heinrich Brüssow (Free State) – 17
Ireland’s first victory over Australia on the Rugby World Cup stage has been rewarded with a two-place rise to sixth in the latest IRB World Rankings, lifting them above Celtic rivals Wales and Scotland.
The hard-fought 15-6 victory at Eden Park on Saturday, Ireland’s first over Australia in five Rugby World Cup matches, regains two of the four places the Irish dropped after losing all four of their warm-up matches in August.
A bigger winning margin could have lifted Ireland to third, equalling their highest position since the IRB World Rankings were introduced in October 2003, but the defeat was enough to see Australia surrender second spot to South Africa.
Position (last week) Member Union Rating Point
1(1) NEW ZEALAND 90.55
2(3) SOUTH AFRICA 86.71
3(2) AUSTRALIA 84.84
4(4) ENGLAND 83.99
5(5) FRANCE 83.78
6(8) IRELAND 82.50
7(6) WALES 80.73
8(7) SCOTLAND 79.12
9(9) ARGENTINA 77.30
10(11) ITALY 73.88
11(14) CANADA 73.74
12(10) SAMOA 73.59
13(13) JAPAN 71.95
14(15) FIJI 71.01
15(12) TONGA 70.30
16(16) GEORGIA 70.00
17(18) USA 66.38
18(17) ROMANIA 65.69
19(20) NAMIBIA 61.24
20(21) PORTUGAL 60.67
This team will smash Namibia
I like the team,
Odwa and JPP could have benifitted from another game after thier good game on Saturday but Gio Aplon might be needed later so he must stay match fit. If he scores 6 tries it will mean as much as JW,s use of(Nokwe)in that Uruguay game. It will only be good to give him agame nothing will be learned from his performance, with that i mean even a good game wont play him back into the A team.
Frans and Jaque can only benifit from another game toghether, sorry JdeV you might warm the bench from now on, it seems the right combination was found by circumstanses beyond your controll.
All agree that Francios Hougaart needed a start at no 9, great pick.
Loose trio will miss Heinrich Brussow, but against Namibia it might not matter.
Front row , good game to try this combo.
Namibia is in for a long night or is it a day?
South Africa hooker Bismarck du Plessis is brutally honest when asked how he feels about sitting on the bench.
“You want to do your part on the field. It’s definitely not nice sitting on the bench,” said du Plessis, who will be rested for Thursday’s Pool D match against Namibia.
“If there is a guy who tells you it’s nice sitting on the bench he would be lying. You want to play, you want to start, definitely, but you’ve got a job to do.”
Du Plessis has been caught in a difficult situation as many Springboks fans believe he should be the starting hooker, but coach Peter de Villiers has stuck solid with captain John Smit for the team’s big matches.
It is never easy for good players to be watching the action from the sidelines.
So what is the worst part for du Plessis about keeping the bench warm?
“The worst part is that warm-up because you’re tight, you’ve had a hard week and then you have to warm yourself up and then sit for 60 minutes on the bench,” he said.
“I don’t want to be seen as an impact player. I want to be seen as a hooker.”
All i can say is stay calm and stay focussed Bissie, you dont want to be pushed by the public into the team and be blamed when we lose. Bide your time, you are lucky to be part of the bigger scheme and your contrubution WILL be recognised, dont become a reason for decent.Stay happy , you have a lot to be happy about.
I am glad to see they opted to have the players continue their momentum, what we didn’t need was just a mish mash of players.
Would have given Pierre some rest. Alberts at 8, Flow at 6 and Incredible Schalk at 7.
Like Hougie on 9 to give him some more game time. Danie and Bakkie huge as the lock pair – been wondering if there is still room for Victor as the line out steals have dried up.
Good on Snorre for also playing Frans and Fourie again – somehow he is getting his selection and bench just right, wonder if it’s a coincidence that Rassie just joined?
@ superBul:
Well said
Still 713 caps in the run on 15! Unbelievable
This team is fine. I would have started with FdP though, he needs game time and lots of it. How long is Jean still injured for???, he better get some games in, otherwise he is going to dip out. The SuidWesters will have a go, thats for sure, this isn’t necessarily an easy game.
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