De Villiers omits World Cup-winning trio

South Africa coach Peter de Villiers handed debuts to two players, but left out World Cup stars Victor Matfield, Percy Montgomery and Francois Steyn from his team to face Wales in the first Test at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Instead De Villiers preferred full-back Conrad Jantjes and gave a debut cap to Andries Bekker ahead of Matfield, while recalling veteran midfielder Adrian Jacobs ahead of Steyn.

Bath fly-half Butch James leads a smaller overseas contingent with Clermont and World Cup-winning skipper John Smit as captain.

Two Zimbabwe-born players, winger Tonderai Chavhanga, and prop Brian Mujati are included with the latter winning his first cap.

Pierre Spies was preferred to Ryan Kankowski at number eight and makes a return after missing last year’s World Cup with a lung disease which almost ended his career.