After waiting all week to find out if certain players are fit for the game against England on Saturday, coach PDV has been dealt a blow as Fourie du Preez and Juan Smith are both ruled out of the game. Ricky Januarie will continue playing at scrumhalf, while Danie Rossouw will come in for Smith on the side of the scrum.
The other notable change is Jannie du Plessis coming straight into the starting XV at tighthead prop meaning John Smit will not be up against Andrew Sheridan and will leave the task to Jannie as Smit will captain the side from hooker.
I was looking forward to seeing Sheridan against Smit, it would have shown us just how good Smit is as a tighthead but I guess we will have to wait and see Smit in action against the Lions if he remains as tighthead.
Habana retains his place in the starting XV, we will just have to wait and see if he puts in a better performance this weekend. For me: this is a tough one to call, either side could win it but I feel without Fourie and Smith, the Boks may just come short.
The Springbok team in full is – 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adi Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Heinrich Brussow, 21 Frans Steyn, 22 Jaque Fourie.
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9 comments
Guru says:
Nov 20, 2008
My heart bleeds for the Boks. Injuries all over the squad like a plague……..not looking good at all.
Ron says:
Nov 20, 2008
So Guru, are you conceding defeat already? Please do let us know so we know we to start on Monday. Is your excuse for the loss going to be “we had injuries”, please state your position now sir.
Guru says:
Nov 21, 2008
LOL, I am not in any way conceding defeat but admitting that Juan Smith’s absence will be a mojor blow for the boks. The breakdowns will not be same without him. However, having said that, the boks will still have too much fire power. I would like to make this more interesting by inviting all the guys to make predictions for the weekend. Maybe we could make this a weekly thing on this website and even carry it through to S14 next year. I will put my head on the block by making my predictions public and here goes:-
SA over England by 6
France over AUs by 4
NZ over Wales by 16
Argentina over Ireland by 7
Any takers?
Manny says:
Nov 21, 2008
Fraz…..I’ll be kind and only request an Amstel six pack, nothing extravagant for me thanks!
I think the player that will be most missed in this side is the underrated Juan Smith. To me, Juan is probably the best blind side flanker in the world at the moment. He has been consistent for a couple of seasons now. He does his job, hard and he does it exceptionally well. Forget the very overrated Habana, the best player in SA has, and still is, Juan Smith. If memory serves correct, the last time SA played at Twickenham Juan Smith was voted Man of the Match.
Another biggie is that Habana has been preferred over Jacque Fourie who is nursing a slight injury but has nonetheless been named on the bench. Again, great news for the Poms. Fourie is much more of a threat than Habana on current form.
Poms to win by 3-8 points.
Fraz to buy copious amounts of alcohol.
Ron says:
Nov 21, 2008
My predictions:
Eng over SA by 3
France over AUs by 3
NZ over Wales by 25
Ireland over Argentina by 5
Fraz, after seeing the Boks team sheet and your bets are still open, I will throw in my six pack and unlike Manny, I would like a six pack of Corona please.
Kamate kaora says:
Nov 21, 2008
wow ron i know we r both ABs but 25 pts past wales!!!!! yo maybe 5 years ago mate but i feel wales have improved and so i wud have to recommend u decrease the margin slightly, so i wud say NZ by 14
Bokke fans… well wat can i say, stay on ur knees boys, its gonna be a close one, if i had to go with a prediction then it wud be following gurus suit , SA by 5
The rest of the games
IRE over ARG by 8
Aus over FRA by 10
i think it myt be a weekend of close games…..touch wood
Fraz says:
Nov 22, 2008
show me the money the beers and the bitches!!! Can I please ask you all to drink a large cup of shut the ***k up please!!
And all the haters that actually had the balls to bet show me the beers!!!
Ha ha ha ha ha
tondikambi says:
Nov 24, 2008
to the victors go the spoils Fraz. congrats bokke
Guru says:
Nov 24, 2008
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA………………….FRAZ!!!!!!!! How dare these silly chaps even suggest the boks have lost it????????????Gents, we are waiting for all your official responses to the score 42-6……where are the bok detractors now????????????