Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has made four changes to his team for the second Test against Six Nations champions Wales in Pretoria on Saturday.
De Villiers has overhauled his front row and brought back Ricky Januarie and Victor Matfield for the second Test. The Springboks won the first Test 43-17 in Bloemfontein last weekend.
In a new-look front row, which battled somewhat in the scrums in the first Test, experienced tighthead BJ Botha replaces Brian Mujati, who was on debut last week, while newcomer Tendai ”the Beast” Mtawarira will debut in place of Gurthro Steenkamp on the loosehead side of the scrum.
Scrumhalf Januarie, who missed last weekend’s match after serving a one-week ban because of indiscipline, replaces Bolla Conradie, while Matfield returns to the second row at the expense of Andries Bekker to partner long-time teammate Bakkies Botha.
There are also two new faces on the bench, with Sharks number eight Ryan Kankowski standing in for Danie Rossouw and Peter Grant making way for Frans Steyn.
”Ricky [Januarie] was always our number-one choice at scrumhalf, and I knew he’d be back. He had the edge over Bolla [Conradie] in the Super 14 this season,” De Villiers said, explaining the relegation of Conradie to the bench despite a very good first Test.
He said the changes were necessary as he wanted to be ”clear what we have when we go to New Zealand”, referring to the Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks in Wellington on July 5.
It was, however, not a case of looking beyond Wales and Italy — whom the Boks play on June 21 — or regarding them as lesser opponents. ”We won’t fall into the trap of underestimating them,” De Villiers promised.
”We did neglect the scrumming preparation last week,” he conceded, ”but have given it much more attention this week, although we didn’t go slow on our line-outs either.”
Like De Villiers, captain John Smit was expecting a huge onslaught from Wales.
”We would also be foolish not to expect a stronger challenge in the second Test,” he said. ”Our goal is to keep on raising our performance in every game.”
New cap Mtawarira was both excited and apprehensive. ”It is a huge honour to play for South Africa. The country has been good to us,” he said, referring to the fact that he, like Brian Mujati and Tonderai Chavhanga, are Zimbabwe-born.
”We will lay our bodies on the line for the Springboks,” was his collective promise.
The prop said it would help to have Smit at hooker. ”We played together on the Sharks front row last season,” he pointed out.
Team: Conrad Jantjes; Tonderai Chavanga, Adrian Jacobs, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana; Butch James, Ricky Januarie; Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Luke Watson; Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha; BJ Botha, John Smit (captain), Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: Bismarck du Plessis, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Andries Bekker, Ryan Kankowski, Bolla Conradie, Francois Steyn, Percy Montgomery. — AFP, Sapa