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Cape Town - Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has made it clear that lock Lood de Jager has not been "axed" from the team despite being left out of the 23-man squad to face Australia.
Bakkies Botha was included in De Jager's place on the bench for Saturday's Rugby Championship Tests against the Wallabies at Newlands.
De Jager made an error late in the 14-10 loss to New Zealand in Wellington a few weeks ago when he allowed himself to be bundled out over the touchline.
It prevented the Boks from claiming an upset win, but Meyer said De Jager is not paying the price for his mistake.
"It was a big decision and I want to make it 100% clear that Lood is not 'axed'. I just felt we needed experience on the substitutes' bench," Meyer told Die Burger.
"Bakkies was superb in the last 10 minutes (against Argentina) in Salta. He's not really an impact player, but you need experience in the dying moments of a Test."
Kick-off for Saturday's Test is scheduled for 17:05.
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 JP Pietersen
Australia:
TBA
Bakkies Botha was included in De Jager's place on the bench for Saturday's Rugby Championship Tests against the Wallabies at Newlands.
De Jager made an error late in the 14-10 loss to New Zealand in Wellington a few weeks ago when he allowed himself to be bundled out over the touchline.
It prevented the Boks from claiming an upset win, but Meyer said De Jager is not paying the price for his mistake.
"It was a big decision and I want to make it 100% clear that Lood is not 'axed'. I just felt we needed experience on the substitutes' bench," Meyer told Die Burger.
"Bakkies was superb in the last 10 minutes (against Argentina) in Salta. He's not really an impact player, but you need experience in the dying moments of a Test."
Kick-off for Saturday's Test is scheduled for 17:05.
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 JP Pietersen
Australia:
TBA
