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Stephen Nell
Cardiff – The roof of the Millennium Stadium will be closed for Saturday’s rugby Test between Wales and South Africa.
“The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) have confirmed that the roof will be closed, which is what we requested as well,” said Springbok spokesperson Andy Colquhoun.
However, the Springboks weren’t spared the effects of rain on Thursday, with their training session scheduled for Cardiff Arms Park having to be moved to Cardiff University’s Talybont Sports Centre.
The players were afforded the luxury of warming up indoors, but then made their way to the hockey fields to be put through their paces on an artificial surface.
“I’ve seen more rain here in two days than I have on the farm in five years,” Springbok lock Flip van der Merwe said as the players walked from the centre to the hockey fields.
While the WRU were not forthcoming on Thursday in answering queries as to whether the stadium’s roof had been closed during the week to shield the pitch from rain, Bok hooker Bismarck du Plessis has said that the team’s scrumming training made provision for a potentially slippery surface.
“Os du Randt (scrum coach) helped us with the positioning of our feet to be able to scrum in the wet,” said Du Plessis.
“It’s nice to know that I have Beast (Tendai Mtawarira) on my left and Jannie (Bismarck’s brother) on my right. We also have Bakkies (Botha) and Victor (Matfield) behind us, and they are the best lock pairing you can ask for.”
The Du Plessis brothers will play together in a Test for the 12th time on Saturday. It’s the most by brothers in the history of Bok rugby.
“It’s special to have Jannie there and we are close, but we have to play well first and foremost and do our reputations justice,” said Bismarck.
Teams:
Wales:
15. Lee Byrne, 14. George North, 13. Tom Shanklin, 12. James Hook, 11. Shane Williams, 10. Stephen Jones, 9. Mike Phillips, 8. Jonathan Thomas, 7. Martyn Williams, 6. Dan Lydiate, 5. Alun-Wyn Jones, 4. Bradley Davies, 3. Adam Jones, 2. Matthew Rees (captain), 1. Gethin Jenkins
Substitutes: 16. Huw Bennett, 17. Paul James, 18. Ryan Jones, 19. Andy Powell, 20. Richie Rees, 21. Andrew Bishop, 22. Chris Czekaj
South Africa:
15 Gio Aplon, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Frans Steyn, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Zane Kirchner, 22 Pat Lambie
Cardiff – The roof of the Millennium Stadium will be closed for Saturday’s rugby Test between Wales and South Africa.
“The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) have confirmed that the roof will be closed, which is what we requested as well,” said Springbok spokesperson Andy Colquhoun.
However, the Springboks weren’t spared the effects of rain on Thursday, with their training session scheduled for Cardiff Arms Park having to be moved to Cardiff University’s Talybont Sports Centre.
The players were afforded the luxury of warming up indoors, but then made their way to the hockey fields to be put through their paces on an artificial surface.
“I’ve seen more rain here in two days than I have on the farm in five years,” Springbok lock Flip van der Merwe said as the players walked from the centre to the hockey fields.
While the WRU were not forthcoming on Thursday in answering queries as to whether the stadium’s roof had been closed during the week to shield the pitch from rain, Bok hooker Bismarck du Plessis has said that the team’s scrumming training made provision for a potentially slippery surface.
“Os du Randt (scrum coach) helped us with the positioning of our feet to be able to scrum in the wet,” said Du Plessis.
“It’s nice to know that I have Beast (Tendai Mtawarira) on my left and Jannie (Bismarck’s brother) on my right. We also have Bakkies (Botha) and Victor (Matfield) behind us, and they are the best lock pairing you can ask for.”
The Du Plessis brothers will play together in a Test for the 12th time on Saturday. It’s the most by brothers in the history of Bok rugby.
“It’s special to have Jannie there and we are close, but we have to play well first and foremost and do our reputations justice,” said Bismarck.
Teams:
Wales:
15. Lee Byrne, 14. George North, 13. Tom Shanklin, 12. James Hook, 11. Shane Williams, 10. Stephen Jones, 9. Mike Phillips, 8. Jonathan Thomas, 7. Martyn Williams, 6. Dan Lydiate, 5. Alun-Wyn Jones, 4. Bradley Davies, 3. Adam Jones, 2. Matthew Rees (captain), 1. Gethin Jenkins
Substitutes: 16. Huw Bennett, 17. Paul James, 18. Ryan Jones, 19. Andy Powell, 20. Richie Rees, 21. Andrew Bishop, 22. Chris Czekaj
South Africa:
15 Gio Aplon, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Frans Steyn, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Zane Kirchner, 22 Pat Lambie
