Juan de Jongh: Gets the nod
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Prop Gurthrö Steenkamp and centre Juan de Jongh have been included in South Africa's starting line-up to face Scotland at Murrayfield.
Steenkamp replaces CJ van der Linde at loosehead prop after the latter took over as a late replacement for Tendai Mtawarira last weekend, while De Jongh takes over at outside centre in place of Jaco Taute.
Both Van der Linde and Taute have been included on the bench.
In total, the Springbok team has 416 Test caps in the starting XV - 150 of them amongst the forwards and 266 in the backline.
"It's great to have Gurthrö back - we wanted to select him last week, but unfortunately he was not 100 per cent fit," said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
"Gurthrö is experienced, knows the conditions well and is looking forward to returning to the green and gold as he's not played for South Africa for more than a year.
"Juan is in a similar position. Even though he's played in a number of Tests for us this year, he's not started for the Boks since last year's away leg of the Tri-Nations against New Zealand in Wellington.
"My plan has always been to give him a start on this tour, as he's been playing very well lately, and I'm excited to see what he brings to the team on Saturday."
Heinke van der Merwe, a late replacement on the bench for Van der Linde last weekend, has kept his place among the reserves.
Saturday's Test will be the 22nd between South Africa and Scotland since they first met in 1906. Of these, the Boks have won 16 and lost five, which includes the last time they played, in 2010. On that occasion, the Scots won 21-17.
"Our focus has been on improving from our performance against Ireland last week," said Meyer.
"We saw the match between Scotland and New Zealand and that the Scots scored three tries against the All Blacks - which is more than any other team has managed against them this year.
"It was their first Test back since their season started and they will not be an easy opponent on Saturday, but we've also brushed off some cobwebs in Dublin and have had a good week on the training field.
"We lost on our last visit to Edinburgh and realise Saturday will be a massive battle, but it's one we are looking forward to."
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Morné Steyn, 22 Jaco Taute, 23 Lwazi Mvovo.
Date: Saturday 16 November
Venue: Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Kick-off: 14:30 GMT (16:30 SA time)
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: John Lacey (Ireland), Christophe Berdos (France)
Television match official: Eric Gauzins (France)
Comments
Spartacus says...
On the one hand I want to be supportive of Meyer, as the Boks are improving, but on the other hand HE KEEPS PICKING KIRCHNER!
Kirchner is so bad he wouldnt even get a game at prop in Australia!
Posted 12:10 14th November 2012
ZAChris says...
I dunno .. Really this Bok team I feel has a lot to prove. Watching the AB's play Scotland on Sat was a real wake up call and showed me just how far behind the All Blacks the Springboks generally are. Sure the Boks played better in the second half but our back line ( as usual ) seems so static and unimpressive compared to our esteemed AB counterparts. Strange I am talking so much about the AB's when our opponants are Scotland this weekend but I just already know that IF we win against Scotland this weekend it will be a real struggle and there is no way we will score many tries as the AB's did. For me it is sad the Springboks at the moment are not capable of playing 'Total Rugby' as we tend to rely so much on our forwards who generally are world class but we seem to be lacking in the back line where as a unit they seems to hold little threat. I hope they prove me wrong but I think our Bokke will struggle against Scotland and may even get a bit of a hiding at the hands of a resurgant England @ home in Twikenham ...
Posted 11:48 14th November 2012
mfblions says...
still no Elton y??? or tho good to see De Jongh starting him and Jean de Villiers will pair very well.
Posted 11:45 14th November 2012
GCP_jones says...
If the Scots shore up the basic definsive errors while sustaining the levels of intensity in attack that they displayed against the AB's, they have a great chance of victory.
We are playing so badly at the moment, if I were a Bok fan the Irish result would not be a good indicator of where you are at as a team (a hollow victory if ever there was one).
Altough from an irish perspective if the Scots or Samoa win (a very distinct possibility) over the weekend we have every chance of slipping to 9th.
So I will be cheering the Boks on for this one.
Posted 11:16 14th November 2012
ben7 says...
Good decision HM. Although Taute should be at 15. Cant wait for burger, brussow, smith, spies, bismarck, beast, bekker, goosen, frans steyn and habana to be back!
Posted 10:55 14th November 2012