Springbok centre Frans Steyn will on Saturday play in his 50th Test for South Africa when they take on Argentina in the opening round of The Castle Rugby Championship at DHL Newlands in Cape Town.
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The 25-year-old Steyn, who made his Test debut against Ireland in 2006, will become the 23rd player to reach 50 Test caps for South Africa. He is back at inside centre after missing the third England Test in June because of his own wedding.
Apart from Steyn’s return, two Springboks who have yet to feature this year are also back.
They are lock Andries Bekker and Lwazi Mvovo. Mvovo takes over from the injured JP Pietersen at right wing while Bekker replaces Juandré Kruger in the middle row for his first Test in more than two years.
Keegan Daniel will start his first Test for South Africa and comes in at No 8 for the injured Pierre Spies.
In the only other changes from the team that played England in Port Elizabeth, Willem Alberts returns to flank in the place of Jacques Potgieter, who is on the bench, while Zane Kirchner is back at fullback for Gio Aplon.
In total there are five changes from the team that started in Port Elizabeth. The Springbok team has a combined total of 432 Test caps for this Test – 157 amongst the forwards and 275 for the backs.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer decided to stick with combinations for the Test against Argentina – the front row and loose forwards are from The Sharks, the locks play together for the DHL Stormers and the halfbacks are from the Vodacom Bulls.
“We’ve now been together for the June Tests and have had a good week to prepare, but we are still rather new as a team and it’s good that the players know each other,” said Meyer.
“Andries was always in our plans and it was a setback to lose him in June, while Lwazi has been impressive this year and I know he can fill the huge boots of JP. We’re still a young team when it comes to experience, but this is Test rugby and there is no place to hide.
“The players have been working very hard on the training field and we now need to translate that to the Test. Argentina will be fired up as they are making their debut in The Castle Rugby Championship and we know they will be a tough opponent on Saturday.”
There are two players on the bench that will be making their debut should they get game time – prop Pat Cilliers and utility back JJ Engelbrecht. Pat Lambie is also back on the bench after missing the Test in Port Elizabeth because of an ankle injury.
“We decided to go for these two because of their utility value – Pat Cilliers can scrum on both sides and JJ covers outside centre and wing, which JP Pietersen used to do for us,” said Meyer.
The Springbok team to face Argentina in Cape Town is:
15. Zane Kirchner (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 15 caps
14. Lwazi Mvovo (The Sharks) 4 caps
13. Jean de Villiers (captain, DHL Western Province) 75 caps
12. Frans Steyn (The Sharks) 49 caps
11. Bryan Habana (DHL Western Province) 77 caps
10. Morné Steyn (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 37 caps
9. Francois Hougaard (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 18 caps
8. Keegan Daniel (The Sharks) 3 caps
7. Willem Alberts (The Sharks) 11 caps
6. Marcell Coetzee (The Sharks) 3 caps
5. Andries Bekker (DHL Western Province) 24 caps
4. Eben Etzebeth (DHL Western Province) 3 caps
3. Jannie du Plessis (The Sharks) 33 caps
2. Bismarck du Plessis (vice-captain, The Sharks) 45 caps
1. Tendai Mtawarira (The Sharks) 35 caps
Replacements
16. Adriaan Strauss (Toyota FS Cheetahs) 12 caps
17. Pat Cilliers (MTN Golden Lions) uncapped
18. Flip van der Merwe (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 14 caps
19. Jacques Potgieter (Vodacom Blue Bulls) 1 cap
20. Ruan Pienaar (Ulster, Northern Ireland) 54 caps
21. Pat Lambie (The Sharks) 13 caps
22. JJ Engelbrecht (Vodacom Blue Bulls) uncapped
They must be happy with Bekker’s condition to have him starting and also no number 5 lock on the bench. Also really good to see JJ on the bench, will miss JP Peterson as he has been so good this year, but hopefully JJ will show us how good he can be, if required.
A big day for Frans Steyn to play his 50th game on Saturday. If he gets a drop kick over on Saturday he will become the only Springbok to get 3 drop kicks in internationals at Newlands. In good company at the moment is Steyn as he and Naas Botha are the only two Boks to have got 2 drop kicks in one test at Newlands. But lets hope that is at the back of their minds and we see the Boks running hard at Argentina and not needing to rely on drop kicks to win.
Geluk Frans!
Jou doring.
Maak jou net reg vir SonnyBoy, ek wil he jy moet hom mooi uitsort vanjaar!
A very good team.
Good luck Bokke!
I would have Juandre in place of Potgieter on the bench. He can play 7 better than Potgieter IMO.
A question for Pietipedia or someone with huge rugby knowledge:
Has there ever been a Springbok Test pack selected without a Bulls / N TVL player in it?
@ Loosehead:
Yes, indeed, a few times!
For instance, Krynauw Otto was the only Bull forward picked by Harry Viljoen at the beginning of 2000, and then he picked only WP/Cheetah/Lions forwards thereafter, with Joost being the only Bull in the team. And we lost most of those tests!
Just one example:
We lost 17-28 against England at Twickenham with these forwards:
Kempson
Marais
Visagie
Boome
Andrews
Krige
Venter
Vos (capt)
No Bulls there….
@ Loosehead:All the Springbok teams before 1938.
@ Pietman:
Thats actually not the worst forwards pack to ever pull on a Bok jersey…..
I remember that tour well.
@ Pietman:
Sorry, not Boome!
Albert vd Berg was lock.
So, Stormer front row, Shark locks, Cheetah loosies.
@ Stormersboy:
ActuallyI don’t remember that team so well, had to phone my old man.(‘Ek ploeg met n ander man se kalwers’, soos die oumense sou gese het!)
Pack of 2000 was ok, backline useless…Werner Swanepoel, Braam van Straaten and those.
Sterkte aan die Bokspan, behoort hom maklik te wen, bud on de udderhant Derm, jammer dat ons met ‘n wegwedstryd begin daar op Nuweland. Dit kan moeilik raak met al die AB ondersteuners daar wat die Argies gaan ondersteun. Sal die druk moet verwerk, veral MS as hy onder die geboe aanlê pale toe.
@ Pietman:
I went to a Supersport breakfast back in those days where Harry Viljoen put forward his vision for Springbok rugby. It was actually a very well thought out one and ahead of its time, but he couldn’t get the guys to execute it on the field.
I remember him saying that Ireland’s hooker at the time Kieth Woods had not lost a lineout on his own throw in 11 matches up to that point. He was trying to illustrate the importance of the hookers primary role of lineout thrower and the lineouts importance of primary first phase possession, something that was later to become Bok culture under White.
He also spoke and showed video of Dean Hall who used to do a very good job of tackling and then getting up immediately and competing for possession. Sound familiar? 🙂
He showed video footage of fly-halves kicking aimlessly back and forth without any obvious goal or effect, and then cut to clips of Butch James putting smart little through kicks and grubbers to great effect. He was at that time uncapped and when it came to the question and answer session someone asked him if he would be able to teach Butch to tackle. He said that if the picked him that he would. (We all know how well that worked out)
He also spoke about the importance of proper coaching w.r.t. certain technical areas, for example taking the high ball under pressure and in contact situations, particularly by the back 3. He showed video footage of the Australian team (at the time the ones to beat) practicing drills under the guidance of one of the Aussie Football coaches, guys jumping up to take the ball while guys rushed them with tackle bags etc.
He really had me believing that we were going to make that giant leap forward, but when it came down to the players playing the way he envisaged, he just could get them to make that leap. It did come eventually under subsequent coaches but I will remember Harry fondly as a coach with some “kop, if not a very successful one.
@ Stormersboy:
@8 Yes, interesting that, NTvl forwards only started appearing after the 2nd world war, before 1938 there were NONE!
Those years WP/Border/EP/Tvl players dominated Springbok selections up front, wonder why? (Maybe the Bulls were too busy fighting the two world wars at the time!)
So, we are to a ‘no bull’ pack again with Heyneke
@ Stormersboy @8
Sounds like Habana or Aplon….
Dean Hall, yes, good Tvl cricketer as well, if memory serves. And a strong left winger in the Ray Mordt mould.
Quit rugby early, head injury.
@ Pietman:
It may have had something to do with the NTVL RU only forming in 1938 after breaking away from the TVL RU. They actually won the CC shortly after the war ended, in 1945 or 46 I believe.
Ja with all the HM criticism people seem to have overlooked that fact.
Most of the Sharkies deserve to be there it must be said.
@ Pietman:
Thats right. I tend to prefer bigger players over smaller ones, I used to love watching players like Mordt, Neil Burger, etc back in the day.
@ Stormersboy:
Niel ‘Chappy’ Burger (Andries Bekker’s step uncle, by the way, Hennie’s mother is/was married to Niel’s father), Agie Koch, Frans Oescher, John Bonthuys, Chris Pope, Gert Muller (Maties and later Tvl, never played WP as far as I know)…… just to name a few from WP, all big wingers.
@ Pietman:
Ja and more recently Pieter Rossouw, who actually is a very big fella. I played against him briefly in Koshuis league, before Dawie Snyman snapped him up into the Maties team at 15. By the end of that year he was playing 15 for the WP and the Carel picked him at 11, and the rest is, as they say, history.
I was playing 12 back in those days, before I switched back to 2, and I remember the day he played against us. It was murder. He made us ll look like primary school players.
Don’t forget the third test starts at Lords tomorrow, start scheduled for 12.00 SA time. Go Proteas!
Whow Bulls supporters not going up in arms after HM picked a Bulls free pack. Cant believe it.
Is Heynecke cracking under media pressure?
Must say, I’m surprized about the inclusion of JJ Engelbrecht on the bench… suppose it’s because he genuinely covers wing and outside centre, with Pat Lambie & Ruan Pienaar covering the other backline positions with ease.
21 @ superBul:
Hi SuperBul no certainly don’t think it has anything to do with media pressure, you don’t get to where Mr Meyer is with all his successes he has achieved without having the talent coupled with the ability to learn from mistakes you have made on the way and supreme confidence in your own judgement. Its just been disappointing that after seemingly getting the support from most fans at his appointment how quickly some folk were to turn on the man, but I guess thats just human nature.
22 @ grootblousmile:
Hi there GBS given all the factors it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, its been reported Mr Meyer is a big fan of JJ’s ability as well as his supposed preference for bigger players plus with the big JP out as well as who else is in the squad then JJ fits the bill better than say de Jongh as a ‘utility sub’, but hopefully we’ll see JJ come on the wing at some point rather than centre because although you say he genuinly covers both am concerned at how good he is at this stage on defence in the outside centre channel, seems like this may have been an issue towards the end of the Bulls campaign but you have been better placed to know, what were your thoughts on him being used at centre at the Bulls. There may be some good wingers coming through but I thing there are even more centres so would prefer to see JJ who is a wing being used on the wing.
@ Bullscot:
I know the mans ability, i loved him but he also showed me some things very early in his coaching career. Maybe it is the way media brought it to us but he had his fair share of controversies already.
Maybe its only me questioning everybody, always.
He said after the Bulls won the S14 , he has nothing else to prove. OK the disappointment of not getting the Bok job made him say that. He walked away from rugby completely, and then reappeared in England… long story but in all honesty , for me he must prove himself. Nothing great was done by him in the last 5 years that could not have been done by others. But lets hope and pray he is the man.
I am tired of losing to the AB,s and Wallabies.
24 @ Bullscot:
Yip, my fear too… JJ is not yet an accomplished defender at outside centre, so as far as I’m concerned he’s primarily a wing.
I also think Heyneke has not even flinched at media hype or pressure, he’s just been around the block too much for that. I think his selections indicate that he’s willing to change and experiment just enough with game plan and approach, so as not to be deemed conservative or naiive at the same time.
Goooooi Mieliessss Heyneke!
Jeeez, just 14500 or so Page Impressions to go till that magic 5 million mark… think we’ll hit it sometime early Friday morning sometime….
25 @ superBul:
Yes am with you on that super certainly hope we can do well against Aus and NZ, just think it may take some time to be above NZ, remember although we have some good young players coming through and have just won the u20 World Cup that NZ were doing that for quite a few years consistently before this year so that tells me that they have a big batch of top class talent that are probably experience wise now better positioned than the Boks, plus this year it looks like injuries not as bad for the All Blacks. Mr Meyer may have made mistakes by you early on but it didn’t hold him back from succeeding and to the mark of a man I’ll respect is someone who is willing to try things and not be scared to make mistakes and then if he makes mistakes is able to learn from them and succeed in spite of them. I may a bit of a softy but I really felt for him as a fellow human with what was going on around the time he was in England and again respect for him for having his priorities right and leaving England, the fact that he was able to walk back into a high profile job at the Bulls when he was ready shows how highly rated he is.
Flok, ek is al weer graswewenaar…. Handbriekie is in Cape Town again, for her MBA stuff, freezing her butt off… whilst we actually had a rather nice weather day, almost Spring like… did not know whether to take the light sweaters or jackets off, or keep them on for good measure.
Not so cold outside now either….
27 @ grootblousmile:
Sounds good GBS 🙂 am sure with the tests rugby coming up you are right there should be lots of activity here to achieve that, plus if you have the cricket thread going that could accelerate things too, oh well time to go lekker bly daar ouens.
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