South Africa coach Jake White made several changes to his side for Saturday’s opening Test against England, bringing in six players to his starting line-up from the team that ran out in last weekend’s tour-opening 32-15 defeat against Ireland.
White also made several positional switches for what will be the first of two back-to-back Tests against world champions England at Twickenham.
In the backs, Francois Steyn, who made his debut against Ireland, was moved to fullback from left wing in place of Bevin Fortuin.
Right wing Jaco Pretorius was replaced by Akona Ndungane with Wynand Olivier coming in at outside centre instead of Bryan Habana, now moved back to his more familiar left-wing position in place of Steyn.
Butch James replaces Andre Pretorius at outside-half, with Jacques Cronje at number eight in place of Pierre Spies, who moves to blindside flanker. Juan Smith drops out of the back-row with Danie Rossouw switched across to open side.
In the second row, Johann Muller comes in for experienced lock Albert van den Berg, now on the bench, while prop Lawrence Sephaka is replaced by BJ Botha, with CJ van der Linde moving across the front row to loosehead.
John Smit is now poised to set to a new record for most Tests as Springbok captain with 37 Tests, the hooker beating the mark of 36 he currently shares with Gary Teichmann.
This weekend’s match will also see Smit become the first Springbok to play 60 Tests at hooker.
Defeat for England on Saturday would be a record-breaking eighth consecutive loss but 2007 World Cup pool opponents South Africa have been beaten in their last five Twickenham Tests, their most recent win at the London ground in 1997.
And White insisted his team would face a stern challenge despite England’s current record.
”They’ve got a very proud record at Twickenham, albeit they’ve lost seven in a row overall. I don’t think you can ever arrive at Twickenham and expect to be handed a Test match.
”They lost to an intercept try last Saturday [against Argentina in a 25-18 defeat] and they had a try disallowed in the first five minutes against New Zealand [whose 41-20 November 5 win was England’s biggest losing margin at Twickenham], so things aren’t going for England.
”We’ve been there before; we know how quickly things can turn.”
Explaining the changes to his pack, White said: ”We always knew England would be a tough challenge for our forwards so therefore that pack of forwards picks themselves for what we have on tour.”
South Africa, whose three-game European trip concludes with their Twickenham double-header, are without several senior players as they look to build their World Cup squad, the likes of fullback Percy Montgomery, prop Os du Randt, lock Victor Matfield and scrumhalf Fourie du Preez all being rested.
Meanwhile, second row Bakkies Botha and flanker Schalk Burger are injured.
Saturday’s match will be the first of four England-Springbok clashes before they meet in September at the World Cup in France and White added: ”Psychologically, as many as wins as we can get between now and September will help.” — AFP
Team: Francois Steyn; Akona Ndungane, Wynand Olivier, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana; Butch James, Ricky Januarie; Jacques Cronje, Danie Rossouw, Pierre Spies; Johann Muller, Johan Ackermann; BJ Botha, John Smit (captain), CJ van der Linde. Replacements: Chiliboy Ralepelle, Deon Carstens, Albert van den Berg, Hilton Lobberts, Ruan Pienaar, Andre Pretorius, Bevin Fortuin.