Buoyed by their historic win over the All Blacks last weekend, the South Africans are confident their rookie hookers can get the job done in the Tri-Nations Test against Australia on Saturday.
Springbok coach Peter De Villiers announced his squad for the match on Thursday, recalling Pierre Spies, Francois Steyn and Conrad Jantjes to his starting XV.
Spies replaces Joe van Niekerk, Steyn comes in for the injured Adrian Jacobs and Jantjes was recalled at the expense of 98-Test veteran Percy Montgomery, who didn’t even make the reserve bench, which included five forwards.
The Wallabies have already identified the unsettled Springbok line-out as a possible weakness, with South African captain John Smit missing due to groin surgery and understudy Bismarck du Plessis suspended.
Schalk Brits will have the throw-in duties, and his back-up will be Adriaan Strauss, who was named in the reserves after only joining the squad on Tuesday.
Brits will start a Test for the first time on Saturday, while Strauss is yet to play at Test level.
However, Bok captain Victor Matfield said the pair were up to the challenge.
”We’re very happy,” he said of the duo. ”We’ve had a good week with Schalk and his throwing is looking very good at the moment.
”Adriaan had a session this morning and he’s a great thrower, as we know from back home.”
De Villiers said he always had Spies pencilled in for the Wallabies clash, while leaving out Montgomery was a tough decision.
The Australians also have absentees from their best line-out, with lock Dan Vickerman not considered as he continues his comeback from injury in club rugby.
Lock Nathan Sharpe was recalled by the Wallabies for Saturday’s game, but Matfield said Vickerman would be missed.
”You will always miss a player of his class,” he said.
”He has a lot of experience and is a great player at line-out time. I think they’ll miss Dan, he’s one of the top locks in the world.”
Team: Conrad Jantjes; JP Pietersen, Francois Steyn, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana; Butch James, Ricky Januarie; Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger; Victor Matfield (captain), Bakkies Botha; CJ van der Linde, Schalk Brits, Gurthro Steenkamp. Reserves: Adriaan Strauss, Tendai Mtawarira, Brian Mujati, Andries Bekker, Ryan Kankowski, Ruan Pienaar, Peter Grant. — AFP
