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Cape Town - Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has hinted that captain John Smit might not start all South Africa's games at hooker this year.
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De Villiers has been criticised on numerous occasions for picking Smit at hooker ahead of Bismarck du Plessis - who many pundits rate a much better player.
And with De Villiers already naming Smit as his captain for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Du Plessis's role in the tournament looked set to be only as a substitute.
However, De Villiers on Thursday told to the Beeld newspaper that he has not made up his mind just yet. The coach believes it was the right decision (to pick Smit at hooker ahead of Du Plessis) for this week's clash against Australia at Kings Park in Durban.
"Next week it could look different," said de Villiers, referring to the clash against the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth.
The Springboks' clash against the Wallabies kicks off at 17:05 on Saturday afternoon.
Teams
South Africa:
15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Gerhard Mostert, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Morne Steyn, 22 Gio Aplon
Australia:
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 James Horwill, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Substitutes: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Salesi Maafu, 18 Sitaleki Timani, 19 Ben McCalman, 20 Radike Samo, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 Anthony Faingaa
Click to BUY the Rugby World Cup Final 1995 DVD
De Villiers has been criticised on numerous occasions for picking Smit at hooker ahead of Bismarck du Plessis - who many pundits rate a much better player.
And with De Villiers already naming Smit as his captain for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Du Plessis's role in the tournament looked set to be only as a substitute.
However, De Villiers on Thursday told to the Beeld newspaper that he has not made up his mind just yet. The coach believes it was the right decision (to pick Smit at hooker ahead of Du Plessis) for this week's clash against Australia at Kings Park in Durban.
"Next week it could look different," said de Villiers, referring to the clash against the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth.
The Springboks' clash against the Wallabies kicks off at 17:05 on Saturday afternoon.
Teams
South Africa:
15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Gerhard Mostert, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Morne Steyn, 22 Gio Aplon
Australia:
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Scott Higginbotham, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 James Horwill, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu.
Substitutes: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Salesi Maafu, 18 Sitaleki Timani, 19 Ben McCalman, 20 Radike Samo, 21 Luke Burgess, 22 Anthony Faingaa
