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Cape Town - He will wear the No 7 jersey on Saturday, but Schalk Burger may in future feature more at No 8 for the Springboks.
Burger will start in place of the concussed Willem Alberts against Scotland in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, with Duane Vermeulen remaining at No 8.
But Vermeulen is overplayed, and coach Heyneke Meyer hinted that he may pick Burger more at No 8 in future.
"The nice thing about Schalk is that he can play anywhere in the loose trio. I think eighthman would probably be his best position in future. Duane has played a lot in the last while," Meyer told Die Burger's website.
"Schalk's not really a ball carrier in the truest sense of the word like Willem. But he has other qualities. He's almost like a flyhalf with his distribution."
While Alberts is good at bustling his way over the advantage line, Burger is more of a playmaker whose distribution in contact is top notch.
Meyer said he wanted Burger to play his own game and not try replicate Alberts.
Burger did well when he replaced Alberts in the 25th minute of last week's 31-30 win over Wales in Nelspruit.
Saturday's clash at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium kicks off at 17:00.
Teams:
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Marcel Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Coenie Oosthuizen
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Oupa Mohoje, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23 Zane Kirchner
Scotland
TBA
Burger will start in place of the concussed Willem Alberts against Scotland in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, with Duane Vermeulen remaining at No 8.
But Vermeulen is overplayed, and coach Heyneke Meyer hinted that he may pick Burger more at No 8 in future.
"The nice thing about Schalk is that he can play anywhere in the loose trio. I think eighthman would probably be his best position in future. Duane has played a lot in the last while," Meyer told Die Burger's website.
"Schalk's not really a ball carrier in the truest sense of the word like Willem. But he has other qualities. He's almost like a flyhalf with his distribution."
While Alberts is good at bustling his way over the advantage line, Burger is more of a playmaker whose distribution in contact is top notch.
Meyer said he wanted Burger to play his own game and not try replicate Alberts.
Burger did well when he replaced Alberts in the 25th minute of last week's 31-30 win over Wales in Nelspruit.
Saturday's clash at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium kicks off at 17:00.
Teams:
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Marcel Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Coenie Oosthuizen
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Oupa Mohoje, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23 Zane Kirchner
Scotland
TBA
