South Africa-born French prop Pieter de Villiers was on Wednesday announced to start in the one-off Test match against the Springboks at Newlands on Saturday.
De Villiers, whose brother passed away recently, has been spending some time with his parents in South Africa after his team’s arrival, but a once-off opportunity to play against his country of birth at his former home stadium has been enough to convince De Villiers to avail himself.
The availability of De Villiers will add further weight to a powerful pack that French coach Bernard Laporte has selected.
”He will be coming to join us at training today [Wednesday]. It is important for him to play in South Africa. We are supporting him through this and respect his wish to play on Saturday against the Springboks,” said Jo Maso, French team manager.
Laporte has made a consistent selection in that his front row of Sylvain Marconnet, Dimitri Szarzewski and De Villiers are teammates at Stade Francais, while lock Jerome Thion and the back row of Serge Betsen, Thierry Dusautoir and Imanol Harinordoquy all come from Biarritz.
”It is the first time we have gone for two big tackling flankers who are very efficient and like to play close to the ball,” Laporte said.
Laporte, though, did not anticipate a weakened Bok pack after the withdrawal of South Africa’s only fetcher in Schalk Burger, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a neck injury in Saturday’s Test against Scotland.
”We feel sorry for him as the injury is very serious. We are all disappointed and wish him the best. We know that there will be a good flanker to replace him, so his absence won’t make a difference,” Maso said.
Captain and lock Fabien Pelous is the only Toulouse player in the formidable French pack.
Laporte has also maintained a level of continuity in the backline with the Biarritz halfback combination of Dimitri Yachvili and Damien Traille, with Traille marked to play a pivotal role in his new position of flyhalf after relinquishing his position at centre to fill in for the injured Frederick Michalak.
”We are looking for Michalak’s second choice. Damien can do everything, pass left and right, hold the ball and kick with both his feet,” said Laporte.
The rest of the backline, with the exception of fullback Julien Laharrague from Perpignan, are all from Toulouse.
”We know that it is going to be a hard game but we want to win. Our main objective is to play rugby,” said Maso. — Sapa
French team: Julien Laharrague; Vincent Clerc, Florain Fritz, Yannick Jauzion, Cedric Heymans; Damien Traille, Dimitri Yachvili; Imanol Harinordoquy, Thierry Dusautoir, Serge Betsen; Jerome Thion, Fabien Pelous; Pieter de Villiers, Dimitri Szarzewski, Sylvian Marconnet.
Replacements: Raphael Ibanez, Vincent Debaty, Lionel Nallet, Julien Bonnaire, Remy Martin, Pierre Mignoni, Thomas Castaignede.