Boks stars rested for Tonga clash
Brad Morgan
20 September 2007
Despite Tonga sporting the same record as South Africa - two wins from two matches, after they upset Samoa 19-15 - Springbok coach Jake White has opted to give most of his frontline players a rest for their World Cup pool A showdown with the Tongans in Lens on Saturday.
Only four players who started the Springboks' last outing against England remain in the run-on side and, had it not been for an injury to Johann Muller in training, that number would have been three only.
Bakkies Botha plays at lock in place of Muller, while Danie Rossouw moves from eighthman to flank. Wikus van Heerden starts on the opposite flank and JP Pietersen is included on the wing, although he has been moved from right wing to left wing.
Captain
With
Springbok skipper John Smit included as a substitute on a star-studded replacements' bench, along with his usual stand-in Victor Matfield, Bob Skinstad takes over as captain.
An interesting selection sees Ruan Pienaar included at fullback. Against England, he was on the bench as cover for man of the match Fourie du Preez at scrumhalf. This time around, he pulls on the number-15 jersey, with Ricky Januarie starting in the number-nine jersey, and no scrumhalf named among the substitutes.
Obviously, the versatile Pienaar provides cover for Januarie. Springbok fans will hope, however, that the omission of a scrumhalf from the list of substitutes is not an indication that Du Preez is struggling with the shoulder injury that led to his leaving the field in the 36-0 win over England.
Pietersen, the scorer of two tries in the win over the English, is on the left wing, with Ashwin Willemse taking over on the right wing.
Centres
The centre
pairing features Wynand Olivier and Wayne Julies. Neither player has seen much action recently. When Jean de Villiers was injured against Samoa, coach White opted to replace him at inside-centre with Francois Steyn, while Julies was summoned as a replacement for De Villiers.
Andre Pretorius, who was so nearly knocked out of the World Cup after a vicious and late tackle by Samoa's Brian Lima, starts at flyhalf, with Januarie as his halfback partner.
Skinstad captains the team for the twelfth time from number eight, meaning Rossouw moves to flank and Wikus van Heerden, one of the stars of South Africa's win over England while playing in place of the suspended Schalk Burger, retains the number-six jersey.
Tight five
The bruising Bakkies Botha packs down in the second row with the athletic Albert van den Bergh, who will be the most experienced player in the starting fifteen with 48 caps, while the front row consists of Gurthro Steenkamp,
Gary Botha, and CJ van der Linde.
For the Bulls' Steenkamp and Botha, it will be their first World Cup action.
Seldom has there been a bench of such quality in international rugby history. It consists of John Smit, BJ Botha, Victor Matfield, Juan Smith, Bryan Habana, Francois Steyn, and Percy Montgomery.
Those players are among the core members of the Springbok team and share 311 caps between them. Montgomery has 89 of those caps and should he play, he would become the most capped South African of all time, bettering the record he currently shares with Joost van der Westhuizen.
Scrumhalf cover?
Interestingly, Habana is a former scrumhalf; one wonders whether the Springbok management team considers him as further cover at number-nine. One imagines he would be a handful to defend against around the scrums, given his lightning-fast acceleration.
South Africa has faced Tonga only once previously in a test. On that day, way
back on 10 June 1997, the Boks romped to a crushing 74-10 victory, running in 12 tries.
Considering the Tongans' history against Samoa, it makes sense that the Bok selectors chose not to deviate from their plan of giving their frontline players a rest. While the Sea Eagles won 19-15 in Montpellier earlier in the tournament, it was their first win over their Pacific Island rivals in eight matches.
Tongan turnaround
Incredibly, Samoa had crushed Tonga 50-3 as recently as June, while in the team’s previous meeting, in July 2006, the Samoans kept the Tongans off the scoreboard as they cruised to a 36-0 victory.
Given Samoa's dominance over Tonga, it would be reasonable to assume that the Tongans’ World Cup win was a shock and not likely to be repeated soon.
The Sea Eagles have, nonetheless, risen two places in the latest world rankings, up to twelfth. Their two wins have equalled the number of victories they have previously scored
in past World Cups.
Starting 15
Ruan Pienaar, Ashwin Willemse, Wynand Olivier, Wayne Julies, JP Pietersen, André Pretorius, Ricky Januarie, Bob Skinstad, Danie Rossouw, Wikus van Heerden , Albert van den Berg Bakkies Botha, CJ van der Linde, Gary Botha, and Gurthro Steenkamp.
Substitutes
John Smit, BJ Botha, Victor Matfield, Juan Smith, Bryan Habana, Francois Steyn, Percy Montgomery
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