De Villiers backs Boks to hit back
South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has made two enforced changes for the second Tri Nations Test in Wellington on Saturday as his team look to make amends for their humbling loss to New Zealand.
With lock Bakkies Botha banned for nine weeks for headbutting Jimmy Cowan in the opening minute of last Saturdayâs 32-12 defeat and prop Jannie du Plessis ruled out with a calf injury, both Danie Rossouw and CJ van der Linde come into the pack.
Another change comes on the bench where loose forward Ryan Kankowski replaces the promoted Rossouw.
For the remainder of the starting XV there is a chance for them to redeem themselves after a poor performance at Eden Park.
De Villiers said: âI trust this bunch of people who are with me. They werenât on song on Saturday but they werenât bad, itâs just the All Blacks were very good.
âThese boys are much better than what they showed on Saturday and itâs time for them to stand up.â
Springboks captain John Smit added: âWhen youâve let yourself down and youâve been beaten properly youâve got to look back and go back to the basics and see what made you a good team and stick to that.
âIt doesnât go pear-shaped overnight but youâve got to revisit the basics that have made you a good team and thatâs what weâve had to do.â
Smit is confident there will be nothing to compare with Bothaâs foolish move this weekend at Westpac Stadium.
âDiscipline will always be a factor every week and we said it after the game on Saturday. You donât want to see incidents like (Bothaâs). Itâs disappointing for us as a team and itâs been dealt with and itâs been just reward for silly behaviour,â Smit said.
âYou take a look at the game again and everywhere else we were pretty good. It was probably the least amount of penalties weâve conceded in a Test match for quite some time.
âBut the only thing you can remember is one act of silliness and I think the fact of the matter is in a team sport you canât have too many big egos. If you have just one outside of the team ethos it hurts the team. Team ethic is whatâs got to be amplified.â
Springboks team: Zane Kirchner; Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier, Bryan Habana; Morne Steyn, Ricky Januarie; Gurthro Steenkamp, John Smit (captain), CJ van der Linde, Danie Rossouw, Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger, Francois Louw, Pierre Spies.
Replacements: Chiliboy Ralepelle, BJ Botha, Andries Bekker, Ryan Kankowski, Ruan Pienaar, Butch James, Gio Aplon.