Springbok team to play Argentina named | InTheNews.co.za

Aug

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 9:53 PM by Newser

Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, has named his team to take on Argentina in a once off test at Coca Cola Park (formerly Ellis Park) in Johannesburg this coming weekend (Saturday 9 August). De Villiers’ team sees a first start in the ‘Green and Gold’ for Cheetahs winger, Jongi Nokwe. Nokwe will make his Springbok debut in place of the injured Brian Habana who will be rested after his shoulder injury. Adrian Jacobs comes back into the team at number 13 having missed the previous match due to injury. Lions centre, Jaque Fourie will start on the bench having only come back into the Springbok scene after a long lay off from injury. Some are thinking that Fourie’s inclusion in the Springbok squad has come a bit too early as he has not even played for his province since returning from injury.

As great a player as Fourie is, he should have been allowed to get more fitness under his belt before playing again. I can not see Fourie being fit and sharp enough to start against New Zealand and Australia in the Tri-Nations. A player like Sterling Mortlock is not the best of players to come up against when you have just returned from injury. Rather get him to be fully fit and then he can play for the Springboks. Why rush to bring him back? It is not like there are no other options at number 13.

Scrum half, Fourie du Preez will also be part of the match day 22 after having recovered from a hand injury. It will be great to have arguably the best scrum half in the world playing again for the Springboks.

The Springbok team in full is – 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adi Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Butch James, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira. Subs: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Joe van Niekerk, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Jaque Fourie, 22 Percy Montgomery.

Springbok emblem to go?
It looks like the days of calling our nation rugby team the Springboks could be over. An intense fir...
Springbok team to play New Zealand named
The starting 15 to take on New Zealand on Saturday has been named today by Springbok coach, Peter de...
Francois Steyn to start at flyhalf
The Springbok team to start against Italy in Saturday's once off test in Cape Town has been named. I...

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.