Springboks coach Jake White denied pushing the panic button on Wednesday as he slashed a third of his starting line-up for Saturday’s Tri-nations rugby Test against a buoyant All Blacks who have rested many leading players.
White made five changes to the side humiliated in Australia last week by a record 0-49, after All Blacks coach Graham Henry discarded eight from his team which demolished Australia by a 20-point margin the previous week.
Henry hinted that he always intended making widespread changes regardless of how South Africa performed against Australia, saying that with a squad of 30 he was ”making sure the guys all feel part of it”.
But White was left struggling to put a brave face on his decision to revamp the back row and halves, including the bracketing of late replacement Butch James with Meyer Bosman at flyhalf.
”This is not a case of hitting the panic button,” he said as his side prepared to face an All Blacks team which has won their past 19 home matches.
”Our objective was always to expose players at this level on this trip.
”We haven’t got a great record away and we really only have Australia, New Zealand and England to play this year.
”You have to give these players an opportunity to see whether they sink or swim.”
A decision on who will play at flyhalf, after Jaco van der Westhuizen’s nightmare performance against Australia, will not be made until Saturday, just hours before kick off.
White said he wants to see how James, who only arrived in Wellington late Tuesday, fits into the squad, and added he will also take into account the match-day weather.
The other Springbok changes see Albert van der Berg come in for injured lock Danie Rossouw, and the novice Solly Tyibilika replaces Joe van Niekerk at openside with the challenge of marking All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.
The experienced Jacques Cronje takes over from novice Pierre Spies in the backrow and Fourie du Preez starts at halfback ahead of Ricky Januarie.
After their extremely disappointing offering against Australia in Brisbane, White said he expected nothing less than a dramatic turnaround because the consequences of another poor performance were too much to contemplate.
”You either get up or you go deeper into the hole,” he said.
Henry has already warned of a likely Springboks backlash, describing the loss to the Wallabies as ”an aberration” and pointing to recent clashes between the two sides as reason to be wary.
”In the last two years the score has been two [Tests] each and when we have played at home the games have been very tight,” he said.
”There has never been a weak South African side in my memory and certainly they will want to resurrect what happened last week very quickly.”
When Henry named his side on Tuesday, he brought back former captain Reuben Thorne, who has been out of favour since the All Blacks faltered in the 2003 World Cup.
Other new starters include lock Ali Williams, prop Neemia Tialata, hooker Anton Oliver, halfback Piri Weepu, inside centre Sam Tuitupou and wingers Scott Hamilton and Doug Howlett.
Out from the starting XV which beat Australia 32-12 are Jerry Collins, Jason Eaton, Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu, Byron Kelleher, Aaron Mauger, Joe Rokocoko and Rico Gear. – Sapa-AFP