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Durban - Springbok fullback Willie le Roux is excited about the prospect of Jesse Kriel moving to the wing for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash against Argentina at Kings Park.
“The back three is very important to your side. We work together... Jesse is a great player and I can’t wait to play with him on the wing. It helps me a lot. If I’m not at the back, maybe he’s there and he can help me,” Le Roux said this week.
“I don’t think Jesse is going to stand on the wing the whole day. He’ll definitely be coming in. He likes to push me in and he moves out, he likes to run off me so it’s just a nice combination.”
Le Roux said he had thrived behind the combination of Kriel and Damian de Allende in midfield and while he was thrilled that both of those players would still be on the field on Saturday, he welcomed back captain Jean de Villiers.
“It’s exciting. I like to move into the centre positions in the third and second phase so if they move out then we just create and we’re just good together,” he said.
“It’s good fun playing with those guys and now with Jean coming in... I’ve played with him in a lot of Tests and he’s a great guy and a great leader.”
Bok coach Heyneke Meyer has opted for continuity in his team selection this week, with the only change in personnel seeing De Villiers in for Cornal Hendricks.
“If you play week in and week out with the same guys you get to know them, even if you’re not at the same franchise at Super Rugby,” said Le Roux.
“It’s similar to the backline we played with last week, it’s just Jean coming in... what a great guy to have come into your backline.”
Saturday’s Test kicks off at 17:05.
Teams:
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lwazi Mvovo
Argentina
TBA
