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Cape Town - Coach Peter de Villiers on Tuesday made one change to the Springbok XV for Saturday’s Test against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
De Villiers drafted in Frans Steyn to the outside centre berth to the team that beat Ireland 23-21 in Dublin on Saturday. Zane Kirchner drops to the bench while the replacement loose forward position will be confirmed later in the week.
“We pulled this team together at short notice for last week’s Test and after they performed against Ireland, but we couldn’t ignore the experience of Frans Steyn,” said de Villiers.
De Villiers had welcomed the arrival of Steyn in the squad on Sunday - from duty at his French club - and had no hesitation in getting him straight into action.
“He has only had two field training sessions with us to date so he is still slotting himself back in, but he has brought real enthusiasm to the squad and it’s a pleasure to have him back with us.”
De Villiers said he expected a fierce onslaught from Wales: “They have been bitterly disappointed on a couple of recent occasions when they felt they could have beaten us and they’ll be looking to put that right,” he said.
“They’ll be hurting after losing to the Wallabies at the weekend and I’m sure they’ve targeted us as the soft target in their three matches against the Vodacom Tri-Nations teams.
“We’ve had a tough year, but we’re only focusing on delivering another improved performance on Saturday and then the result should look after itself.”
Teams:
Wales:
TBA
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 TBA, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Zane Kirchner, 22 Pat Lambie
De Villiers drafted in Frans Steyn to the outside centre berth to the team that beat Ireland 23-21 in Dublin on Saturday. Zane Kirchner drops to the bench while the replacement loose forward position will be confirmed later in the week.
“We pulled this team together at short notice for last week’s Test and after they performed against Ireland, but we couldn’t ignore the experience of Frans Steyn,” said de Villiers.
De Villiers had welcomed the arrival of Steyn in the squad on Sunday - from duty at his French club - and had no hesitation in getting him straight into action.
“He has only had two field training sessions with us to date so he is still slotting himself back in, but he has brought real enthusiasm to the squad and it’s a pleasure to have him back with us.”
De Villiers said he expected a fierce onslaught from Wales: “They have been bitterly disappointed on a couple of recent occasions when they felt they could have beaten us and they’ll be looking to put that right,” he said.
“They’ll be hurting after losing to the Wallabies at the weekend and I’m sure they’ve targeted us as the soft target in their three matches against the Vodacom Tri-Nations teams.
“We’ve had a tough year, but we’re only focusing on delivering another improved performance on Saturday and then the result should look after itself.”
Teams:
Wales:
TBA
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 TBA, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Zane Kirchner, 22 Pat Lambie
