Burger to lead wounded Springboks against New Zealand

JOHANNESBURG – The Springboks made eight changes to their match-23 ahead of the titanic match against the All Blacks at the Emirates Airline Park on Saturday, July 25.

After suffering a devastating last minute loss against Australia, Meyer decided to stick to his rotation schedule. The South African side will hope to beat their archrivals as they gear up for their second match of the condensed Castle Lager Rugby Championship.

The backline remains unchanged, there are five new players on the bench and three changes to the eight-pack. Schalk Burger will take up the captaincy.

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Heinrich Brüssow will make his first start for the Springboks since the 2011 Rugby World Cup and Vincent Koch will be on the bench hoping to make his test debut for South Africa.

In a positional change, Francois Louw will start in the number seven jersey for the injured Marcell Coetzee with Brüssow assuming the openside role. The only other change to the starting line-up is at lock, where Lood de Jager takes over for Victor Matfield.

On the bench, Koch will be joined by Cornal Hendricks, Trevor Nyakane, Flip van der Merwe and Warren Whiteley, who could make his first test appearance in South Africa, in front of his Johannesburg home crowd.

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“Injuries have forced our hand a bit, but we’ve stuck to our planned rotational policy on the bench and it will be great to see what Heinrich, Vincent and Flip can do,” said Meyer.

“The breakdown battle will again be huge and it will be good to see Heinrich and Francois play together. They are versatile players and I am convinced they will combine perfectly.

“Heinrich has been great this season, before injury, and has played his way into contention. As with other players returning from Vodacom Super Rugby injuries, he deserves an opportunity. We decided it was better to start with him and to use Warren as an impact player later in the match.

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“We had a look at Pieter-Steph du Toit but he is not yet 100 percent match-ready. Franco Mostert was also discussed but in the end we decided to go with Flip as he will add valuable experience to our bench.

“We planned to bring Trevor, Warren and Cornal back for this match. Trevor and Warren have been playing great rugby this season and Cornal is a superb finisher, as he often showed last year.”

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Meyer said that the Springboks have a huge challenge on Saturday as they continue to build towards the Rugby World Cup against a fired-up Kiwi side.

“This will be a massive test – every match against the All Blacks is,” said Meyer.

“We played some great rugby last weekend, but this week we have to put in an 80-minute effort. We have to be especially focused in the last 10 minutes, because New Zealand always finishes strong. They traveled here with us so that negates any advantage we could’ve had at the end of the match.

“The challenge will also be to step-up in vital areas of the game and get back on the winning track. By not making too many changes this week, we’re giving some combinations the opportunity to settle more. Our youngsters will have to put up their hands on Saturday but I would not have selected them if I didn’t believe they can do the job.”