Meyer announces Bok team to face World XV

SPRINGBOK coach Heyneke Meyer announced the team to face the World XV at the DHL Newlands Stadium on Saturday, July 11.

Ruan Pienaar has been named as vice-captain for the first clash of this season and Victor Matfield will take up the captaincy as Jean de Villiers starts from the bench for the Springboks.

Meyer said the decision to hand the captaincy to Matfield for the time being was not a difficult one. “The captaincy is a very important thing to me and it’s something that I believe should not be treated lightly, especially at international level,” said Meyer. “Victor is the most experienced player in the history of Springbok rugby and has captained successfully at every level of the game. He led last year too when Jean was injured and was the vice-captain for the rest of the season. Victor is also still in great shape and at our recent fitness tests, he was the best performing forward. Ruan is very experienced and in a key decision-making position. He will run things at the back with Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen backing him up.”

The 23-man squad includes two uncapped players, Jessie Kriel and Vincent Koch and Lions captain Warren Whiteley who is set to make his first start in the green and gold. “All three of them were magnificent in Vodacom Super Rugby and they deserve this opportunity. I’m excited to see how they step up to this level. “I’ve always rated Vincent and followed his career for a long time. He has really improved a lot recently, which is testament to the hard work he and everyone who has worked with him, has put in. He has proven that players from one of the so-called smaller rugby unions can become Springboks. Warren is a specialist eighthman and will have big shoes to fill with Duane Vermeulen out injured. Although he has played in only two tests, he brings experience and leadership to the pack, having led the Emirates Lions with great style this season.”

De Villiers is set to make this inspirational comeback to top-level rugby almost eight months after a suffering a dislocated knee and ligament injury in the last Bok match against Wales in Cardiff in 2014.

“Jean is a massive asset to South African rugby and it’s wonderful to know his return to play is progressing so well that we can give him some game time from the bench on Saturday,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.

“The mere fact that he is back in shape and ready to play is testament to his incredible work ethic and his professional approach to the game. Jean has really put in hours and hours of extra work to get here and he is a great example for any player on how to put yourself in the best possible position to recover. We will still manage how he is used against the World XV and afterwards we’d like for him to return to Western Province, where he will be available for their Absa Currie Cup warm-ups.”

The Bok coach added that he also had to keep in mind the return to the game of players who had been injured in the last few months.“We had to bring players such as Oupa Mohoje, Schalk Burger, Cobus Reinach, Pat Lambie and Jean back at some stage and decided this was the best opportunity to do so,” said Meyer. “The same applies for other players returning from injuries, who we will manage in the coming weeks.We don’t have a lot of time to get ready for the World Cup, so we will have to use every minute of game time we have wisely before we get on

the plane to England.”

“The reason we’ve decided to go with Francois Louw and Marcell Coetzee is because we have lost some ball-stealing ability with Duane not available but both our flanks can now fulfill that role.

“Jesse has played at outside centre before and starred for the Junior Springboks in that position in four of their five 2014 matches. He’s also been training with us for a long time and I’m sure he will slot in easily with Damian de Allende in an exciting but a little inexperienced midfield combination.

“I’m very excited to see how Jesse, Damian and Handré Pollard will play next to each other. They are still young and I believe they are the future. They will also have a very experienced back-trio next to them on Saturday. It’s important to have a combination of youth and experience and we’ll continue to work on that.”

Tickets for Saturday’s match are still available and can be purchased online through https://wprugby.computicket.com or from Shoprite/Checkers stores and Computicket outlets nationwide. Tickets can also be purchased directly from the DHL Newlands Box Office that wil remain open for the remainder of this week and on match day.