De Villiers makes some tough calls
It will be South Africa’s last match on this trip and coming off a win over New Zealand on Saturday night, they are looking to continue their impressive form.
The coach has left Percy Montgomery out of the 22, opting for Conrad Jantjes at fullback with Pierre Spies taking over number eight from Joe van Niekerk. World Cup winning centre Francois Steyn also replaces injured Adrian Jacobs.
The hooker spot could be the concern for the Springboks after Bismarck du Plessis was suspended. Schalk Brits replaces him with Adriaan Strauss joining the squad on the bench.
While some decisions were tough, de Villiers is confident he has the right mix and does not believe the long trip and flight from Dunedin to Perth should affect the team come Saturday.
“We had almost 13 hours on the flight so we have to cover everything as you just don’t know what will happen,” de Villiers said.
“Before we came here we always said Pierre will play in the Australian game. He is the right kind of guy to play in Australia. We took the opportunity to freshen up the bench for this last game of the trip.”
De Villiers was reasonably impressed with what he saw from the Wallabies against Ireland and France.
“It was a typical Wallabies side from what I saw. They kept the ball for 12 to 14 phases, they wear you down and their execution is always brilliant. They have a great all-round team, draw energy from each other and we are in for a tough game,” he said.
Captain Victor Matfield is confident himself and Bakkies Botha can do well in the lineouts against Nathan Sharpe and James Horwill, despite the Springboks playing their third-best hooker.
“We had a good week with Schalk and his throwing is looking very good at the moment,” Matfield said.
Meanwhile, Australia reserve Ryan Cross is looking forward to continuing his outstanding 2008. Cross, at his home base of Subiaco Oval, believes the Wallabies have an advantage over their southern hemisphere rivals.
“They’ve had to fly from the south of New Zealand and we’ve been here for a good week and are ready to go. Everyone has trained well, so hopefully that translates onto the field,” he said.
Cross’ Force team-mate Drew Mitchell has also been recalled at the expense of Cameron Shepherd, who broke his leg against France.
Meanwhile, Cross firmly believes that Mark Gasnier’s attempt to play both league and rugby in the same year can’t be done.
A rugby league convert himself, Cross took a full season at Super 14 with the Western Force before he was able to shine in the new code and believes it is not possible to play league in winter and union in summer, and is hoping the rules are not changed to allow European-based players to still represent their country.
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