Coach Peter de Villiers on Tuesday made three changes to the Springbok starting XV and one positional switch for Saturday’s Test against Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.
Zane Kirchner, Francois Hougaard and Ryan Kankowski were all promoted to the starting line up while Gio Aplon moves from fullback to wing from the team that defeated Wales 29-25 in Cardiff on Saturday.
In addition hooker Adriaan Strauss and wing Lwazi Mvovo are involved in a match-day 22 for the first time on tour as they were drafted onto the bench.
Bjorn Basson’s injury and subsequent suspension made him unavailable for the right wing position and his place is taken by Gio Aplon, who moves from fullback. Aplon’s No 15 jersey is taken by Zane Kirchner who moves up from the bench.
Francois Hougaard is given the starting position at scrumhalf after his cameo performance from the bench on Saturday, while Ryan Kankowski comes straight into the starting XV at eighthman.
“We’ve got a talented squad and a long tour like this gives us an opportunity to try out a few options,” said Peter de Villiers.
“Francois Hougaard played well for us in the Vodacom Tri-Nations and did well when he came on on Saturday and brings a different style.
“Ryan is one of two talented eighthmen in the squad and we wanted to give him an opportunity to show us what he can do.”
The changes on the bench are caused by the departures of Basson and Chiliboy Ralepelle, who returned a positive test for a banned stimulant following the Test against Ireland on November 6.
Adriaan Strauss comes onto the bench as the replacement hooker and the uncapped Lwazi Mvovo takes the place of Kirchner as a backline replacement.
De Villiers added that the squad had now put the shock of the positive results behind them.
“There is a process in place in these cases and that is now being followed. As a squad we have moved on and are focusing only on Scotland.”
Springbok team:
15. Zane Kirchner, 14. Gio Aplon, 13. Francois Steyn, 12. Jean de Villiers, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Morne Steyn, 9. Francois Hougaard, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Juan Smith, 6. Deon Stegmann, 5. Victor Matfield (C), 4. Bakkies Botha, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plesses, 1. Beast
Reserves: 16. Adriaan Strauss, 17. CJ van der Linde, 18.Flip van der Merwe, 19. Willem Alberts, 20. Ruan Pienaar, 21. Pat Lambie, 22. Lwazi Mvovo
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November 16th, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Spies injured!? I like the look of this allthough I still think the midfield is the wrong way round.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Spies out after a MOM?
Willem Alberts deserves to start ahead of Stegman.
Habana…eish.
I’m glad Hougaard is starting.
I’d also swap Steyn and JdeV.
Unless Pienaar was the problem, I don’t see the backline issue solved.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Reply to Welshbok die Brandwag @ 2:03 pm:
only thing that may work for the midfield is that they have 80min of game time together and another week of training in those positions – by the time they play England it may be working…
November 16th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
Habana going for a scan on his hand this afternoon, they expect its broken (from training), so Mvovo will start.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Pierre Spies has been rested.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Reply to Morné @ 2:09 pm:
Go Mvovo! Adi then on the bench?
November 16th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Reply to Morné @ 2:09 pm:
what he try to do? Another intercept??
November 16th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Reply to JT @ 2:18 pm:
Yes, looks like it.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Kirchner at 13 and Steyn at 15 would be better.
But this is Scotland dammit. Lambie, Mvovo, Strauss, Alberts and v d Merwe should all be starting.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Reply to Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes @ 3:09 pm:
don’t underestimate them – they beat the Poms, Ireland and almost France earlier this year IIRC.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
Reply to JT @ 3:17 pm:
And beat Argentina in Argentina twice in june!
November 16th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Habana officially out of tour, Mvovo moves to starting XV
November 16th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Surely they can call someone up to replace him though…
Gerhard VD Heever anyone?
November 16th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 4:20 pm:
Sy verdediging is net so swak soos Habana, verder is hy in alle opsigte beter.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Reply to JT @ 3:18 pm:
And Wales have only won 2/11 last tests – which lends some perspective to your cartwheeling over the Bok win.
November 16th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 4:20 pm:
That was my call.
November 16th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV9fbeHJJBk&feature=player_embedded#!
Watching these same guys playing @ the Bulls, it just once again shows me how seriously off the pace they really are at the moment.
I personally think that this clip is the evidence of a happy camp who are well coached.
The boks aren’t a happy team, and it is very evident in their rugby.
November 16th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Reply to Welshbok die Brandwag @ 8:01 pm:
Looking at that I always wonder why so many people say things like: “All he can do is kick” or “A limited player accept for his boot.”
Do they not notice the 3 points?
Logically we should say the opposite. A Half Back or Full Back that cannot kick for goal is the real limited player. Out of hand kicking is an essential skill for all backs.
I think if someone wants to revolutionize rugby they should put some effort into Drop Goal coaching and set a minimum number of shots as a part of the game-plan. You will lose very few matches with 12 to 15 extra points per match.
November 16th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Reply to Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes @ 8:58 pm:
And then they will devalue the drop to 2 points. (Used to be 4 up to ca. 1949).
Agree on the kicks. JdeV is really useless in that department. Can he do the chip n chase that Matfield and Alberts did?
Naaaah!
November 16th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
Reply to Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes @ 8:58 pm:
specially with both Steyns in the team who have both shown they can dropkick from within their own half.
I have always said that Tina is best suited @ 15 because of his uncompromising defence, his line kicking and his drop kicks. Take the pokes @ goal, if you miss, it’s a 22 dropout, you get back possession anyway.
Simple gameplan:
Brossouw and Bismark manning the breakdown with props and locks cleaning out (like they should be).
keep the ball in hand (ala Ireland), drive forward, make them tackle, make them tackle, make them tackle, kick for touch, and Matfield steals the lineout, maul up and score.
Oppo will stay away from lineouts, kick upfield, Steyn receives, and mixes up with either running it up, or a missile line kick, and if close to halfway, slot droppies.
In meanwhile, FdP can terrorise them, and release Smith, Spies, Beast / Guthrow, Fourie, Habana, Pietersen on them.
WE CAN ONLY WIN,AND IT WILL BE PRETTY.
Most tries scored in 2nd half, last 30 minutes when oppo defence tired and worked over.
November 16th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Why has Steyn tried so few drop goals this season?
Morne I mean…
November 16th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
WE CAN ONLY WIN,AND IT WILL BE PRETTY.
Only in the Cape do they care about appearances
My friend all I care about is this score
RWC 2011 Champions: South Africa
How we got there is not my concern at all…. even if we beat NZ by 3-0 and they whinge about us taking Suzie along…. there is in the world no sweeter sound than hearing a Kiwi whinge about losing to the Bokke…
None at all…
The Poms and Aussies will take their pakslae like men but the Kiwis… and that whingeing is music to my ears…
November 16th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 9:36 pm:
he did plenty this season @ the bulls (spr 14) with FdP feeding him.
November 16th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
@ DavidS – like this ou All Blacks numero UNO says:
He obviously has a very short memory. RWC07 – prior to the tournament every Kiwi was boasting about having the best 2 teams in the world. Result – out in the 1/4′s.
……..but, but….it was the ref…. it was Henry’s ‘rotation’ policy. Fokkin dwaas.
I don’t like them at all. They are a bunch of nasty, small-minded, hypocritical twats with a collective inferiority complex. All they can do is sneer at South Africans and howl like a pack of mangy dogs if there is anything they can possibly denigrate SA about.
November 17th, 2010 at 12:09 am
Reply to Boertjie @ 9:29 pm:
They will, but it will take a while and in the mean time many matches may be won that way.
Drop kickers may also improve their strike rate and increase their attempts to even things out.
I think the tinkering with point values are mostly pointless.
I once made a graph of the number of tries per test match over the years and there is no increase correlating with the changes in the value of tries from 3 to 4 to 5.
November 17th, 2010 at 12:23 am
Reply to Boertjie @ 9:29 pm:
Interesting thing about Drop Goals is that 1948 had the lowest number of successful DGs ever! Only 1 in 26 Test Matches. 1949 had 9 in 39 matches.
So when was the actual change? Before or after the 1949 season?
From there DGs gradually increase to reach their peak in the late 70s to mid 80s. Around 1 DG every 3 matches. After that it went back up to mostly 1 every 6-7 matches. Pretty much where we were in 1949.
November 17th, 2010 at 12:40 am
Same thing for the ratio between penalties and tries. The long term trend has been in favor of penalties and there has been zero effect from the increase in the value of tries.
The only interesting correlation I’ve spotted was in the percentage of converted tries.
Pretty much constant for decades, then a gradual increase in the 80s and flat since. Perhaps the synthetic ball may be blamed.
November 17th, 2010 at 1:55 am
Reply to DavidS @ 9:36 pm:
Interesting… I was thinking the same with both Steyns the last game… on a few occasions there was space and could have done with 3 more points buffer…
November 17th, 2010 at 2:04 am
Reply to DavidS @ 4:20 pm:
Too pale… and Super form does not count with Snor…
November 17th, 2010 at 5:45 am
Reply to Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes @ 8:58 pm:
“I think if someone wants to revolutionize rugby they should put some effort into Drop Goal coaching and set a minimum number of shots as a part of the game-plan. You will lose very few matches with 12 to 15 extra points per match.”
Interesting take Tim.
I would agree but with this qualifier – coach the long ala Frans Steyn bombs. Not the easier chips.
Reason is that if you take the “gimmes’ up close I would think that you may statistically shoot yourself in the foot by missing the chances to put it in with a try from that distance OR get a penalty for the 3.
On that point, can anyone tell me when a penalty is awarded close to the sticks in a very kickable spot why teams insist on tempting the advantage to the point where they lose that advantage?
Upon a kickable penalty I’d advise it’s beter to flop down in a fetal position to get the kick. The amount of penalties that are lost by continuing play (even if it’s not for points – just better position) is an area of efficiency that could really impact closer games if all were exercised immediately.
Don’t know if there is a stat for that. Penalties lost due to advantage being called off.
November 17th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Reply to Americano @ 5:45 am:
Close in advantage is only ever called over IF the team with the advantage scores…
Paddy NoBrain hysteria (guys should see his e-mails) from a few years back that demanded that the only advantage allowed in oppo 25 for team with advantage would be the try…
You should have seen Paddy’s hysteria when he crapped out “all” in a mail about the timing of calling the engage in a scrum’s…
“Guys this is really PISSING ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Seriously…
Which is why I claim him to be an emotional unbrained teenage girl filled with little tantrums…
November 17th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Reply to mawm @ 10:55 pm: Well I don’t want to disappoint you, but you just did everything you accuse the Kiwi’s of doing.