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Cape Town - Former captain and centre Jean de Villiers believes Morne Steyn is the right man at flyhalf to help topple the All Blacks.
De Villiers spoke to the All Blacks’ official website ahead of Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test between South Africa and New Zealand in Durban.
"Morne has a very definite way of playing, and it's suited to the style of how we can beat the All Blacks,” said De Villiers.
“We can't beat them at their own game, and although we can get to that point, we're certainly not there yet. If we have any chance of winning, then we need to play as we did last week," said De Villiers, referring to the 18-10 win over Australia in Pretoria where Steyn scored all the Boks’ points.
De Villiers also urged his former team-mates to "slow it down" against the Kiwis.
The Springboks were well beaten (41-13) by New Zealand in Christchurch in Round 4 of the Rugby Championship and will hope to avoid another big defeat.
"You have to face reality, we are still trying to build as a team, and while there are times for expansive play, I think the key is to slow it down against the All Blacks.
"You want to force the structures onto them because what they want is broken field play where you don't have set defensive systems in place, and they can have backs running at forwards, which is where they expose you.
"In saying that, I did see some enterprising stuff from a mindset point of view last weekend (against Australia). That is really good to see. There are times for that, but we do have a long way to go before we can play an expansive brand and beat the All Blacks that way."
Saturday's clash at Kings Park is scheduled for 17:05.
Teams:
South Africa
15 Pat Lambie, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Willie le Roux
New Zealand
15 Ben Smith, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Waisake Naholo, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Matt Todd, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Substitutes: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Liam Squire, 20 Ardie Savea, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 George Moala
