Boks in UK
Boks to rest skipper Jean?
2012-11-12 17:12
Jean de Villiers (Getty Images)
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Cape Town - Springbok captain Jean de Villiers could be rested for the clash against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday, with centre Juan de Jongh likely to start.
Bok coach
Heyneke Meyer is reportedly keen to give De Jongh a chance, and hinted he may do so at the expense of his skipper.
“I definitely want to give Juan a chance, the reason I left him out last week was just because I wanted to keep changes to a minimum from the perspective of what we needed on defence,” Meyer told the
supersport.com website.
Should Meyer decide to rest his captain, De Jongh will start at inside centre with Jaco Taute staying in the No 13 jersey. The other scenario would see De Villiers remaining at 12 and De Jongh at 13 with Taute then moving to fullback.
“I haven’t made up my mind completely about this yet, and I still need to talk to a few people, but I would like to institute a rotation policy in the midfield. I thought Jaco Taute played his best Test so far against Ireland, so it is a case of whether we play Jaco and Juan together in the midfield, or whether we pair up Juan with Jean.
“I am thinking of giving Jean a rest this week as he has been struggling a bit with that hamstring injury that has been bothering him recently.
“I still believe fullback is Jaco Taute’s best position, and would love to play him there now, but I don’t want to make too many changes for the Scotland game," said Meyer.
After the Test against the Scots on Saturday, the Boks conclude their European tour the following week with a clash against England in London.