Peter de Villiers has named an experienced Springbok team to take on the All Blacks in the first home Tri-Nations test on Saturday at Newlands. Veterans Percy Montgomery, Fourie du Preez, Schalk Burger and Bryan Habana all return to the side that thrashed Argentina last weekend.
Montgomery takes over at fullback from Conrad Jantjes, who will occupy the number 22 shirt this week. Bryan Habana has been cleared to start in his customers number 11 jersey, with last week’s débutant Jongi Nokwe making way for him. JP Pietersen is retained at right wing, with centres Jean de Villiers and Adi Jacobs also keeping their spots. Frans Steyn comes onto the bench for the injured Jacque Fourie and will cover 10, 12 and 13. Butch James is re-united with du Preez in a combination which took South Africa to the World Cup title last year. Ricky Januarie is on the bench.
In the pack, Burger comes into the starting lineup at the expense of Luke Watson, who will be on the bench. Andries Bekker has been named as Victor Matfield’s partner at lock, while the front row of Beast Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis and CJ van der Linde is retained as a unit. Danie Rossouw will be the second row replacement on the bench, as Joe van Niekerk drops out of the squad altogether.
Boks to take on the All Blacks:
15. Percy Montgomery
14. JP Pietersen
13. Adrian Jacobs
12. Jean de Villiers
11. Bryan Habana
10. Butch James
9. Fourie du Preez
8. Pierre Spies
7. Juan Smith
6. Schalk Burger
5. Victor Matfield
4. Andries Bekker
3. CJ van der Linde
2. Bismarck du Plessis
1. Tendai Mtawarira
Reserves
16. Adriaan Strauss
17. Brian Mujati
18. Danie Rossouw
19. Luke Watson
20. Enrico Januarie
21. Francois Steyn
22. Conrad Jantjes
Tweet
Lekker Percy. Respect. 😀
GO ADI… GO ADI… GO ADI !!!
GO BOKKE… GO BOKKE… GO BOKKE !!! 😆
Actually not surprised at all with the team selection… 😉
@McLovin (Comment 1) :
Sound like a Blue Bull… 😉
Now ole PDV has heeded my call to name his team well in advance, and there the AB’s go and stuff it up. Good for you
PDV!!
Congratulations Percy on a truly monumental achievement. May your special day be filled with happiness.
@Charlie (Comment 2) : Howzit Charlie,
I saw on Keo that Ansie gave Adi some tonk which you defended. Good on Ya.
I tried to think of any mistakes that Adi made, only not offloading sooner once or twice in the begining. Apart from that brilliant.
Sharks are going to be fantastic for CC & S14.
Cheers
If we win this game we will more than likely win the TRI Nations…
I doubt we will win on Saturday…
@Ernie (Comment 7) : Ansie seems not to have a clue… would fit well into parlement… 👿
@wpw (Comment 8) : Wa ko jy van af ❓
@wpw (Comment 8) : Before Carisbrook we were more likely to win at Newlands then that game. Wellington was not one way traffic either.
I doubt we will lose on Sat..
winding up.
I am pretty impressed with this team. 😎
I will be supporting the guys 100%. I just don’t think we will win…
I hope I am wrong… 😎
I really like the look of this team.My only change in the run on 15 would be Big Joe instead of Spies.On the bench I would have prefered a good fetcher(baywatch) and another prop(although Mujati does cover both sides.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 12) : me too… only slight doubt is Bekker playing 4… very glad to see Furry and Perce back, though – we’ll need their XP. Shit, what I wouldn’t give to have John and BJ in that front row, though.
KSA Shark
Except for the captain and no 46 hey????
@wpw (Comment 13) : Wes, are the two of us then plain negative or what….
I also hope I am wrong here 😀
Badminton getting tense. 🙄
I think bringing on Ricki in the last 20 to torment the tired AB forwards would be perfect…but I really like the team. Hope we don’t miss Bakkies to much in the scrums and for pure intimidation
Team GB on fire.
Juan has also not been great,I hope he steps up for the big game
I’m really looking forward to it 🙂
Team GB beat the Chinese pair. What a match. Back to the Boks now.
Silvy (I can call you Silvy can’t I?)
Not negative… It is just very seldom that an AB side loses more than two games during the TN.
We will have to play very well to beat them.
@wpw (Comment 24) :
Whats with this negativity? Are you playing for Perth citizenship or something?
Boks by 5
playing = applying
Reckon much of the game hinges on Juan. Burger cannot man the breakdowns by himself. Spies is all out ball carrier – worthless at the breakdown. Smith will have to get stuck in and assist Burger.
Ryk Neethling came last in his heat. 😯
Lyndon Ferns 3rd in his heat. 😀
@McLovin (Comment 28) :
Ag NO!!! 😕
Cape Town weather prediction for Sat:
Hi: 17°Lo: 12°
More sun than clouds. Cool, Windy. Temperature of 17°C. Winds 37km SE. Humidity will be 76% with a dewpoint of 10° and comfort level of 17°C. There is a 30% chance of precipitation.
@wpw (Comment 24) : Yeah, took the liberty to call you Wes, so call me what you like ( for those taking advantage of this, it is at your own peril).
Wes’ I like to think of myself as a bit of a realist, but that will not deter me to shout all out for the Boks!!
@Silver Fox (Comment 32) :
Silvy??? 😯 😯 LMFGA!!
hehehe 😎
@wpw (Comment 16) :
That goes without saying. 😛
It’s Juan’s 50th test so congrats Percy and Juan!
Hey Waltie!! geluk met jou team – hulle het my verskriklik BAIE plesier verskaf!! 😉
@I’ce (Rebel With a Cause) (Comment 37) :
En vir my, het myself hees geskreeu daar op Loftus…LOL!
Congrats to Juan too. 😀
So is Juan only half as good as Percy?
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 38) :
Groot was my surprise toe ek na die ander channel oorslaan, hoor!!! ek het die Sharks se laaste oomblik gemis en saam met die Leeus gebid dat die eindfluit blaas!
@KSA Shark © (Comment 40) :
If I have to pick one of the two to join the Lions I’ll pick Juan..LOL!
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 42) : you can have Juan if you send us Willem Alberts
@robdylan (Comment 43) :
Like that’s going to happen…LOL! I met Willem for the first time before the WP match…I think he is happy to stay with us for the moment. Like all the ex-monument pupils, I think he is a loyal Lion!
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 44) : I heard a rumour that he might only be with the Lions for one more season…
I think most of the current Lions are contracted until the end of 2009, so there will be a lot of negotiating with key players before August 2009 so that we don’t lose them. We will no doubt lose some.
What happened was that when Loffie took over he was given a 3 year contratc, and all the players that he wanted was contracted for the same period. All that comes to an end at the end of next year, and then we will have to see who stays. Personally I don’t even think Loffie will stay…..
Good team and very good choice starting with Percy….
I think Nokwe was unfortunate to lose out to JPP…
And Joe to Watson on the bench…
and that would be by his own choice.
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 47) :
Oh so just as things start looking up we might have to start rebuilding…why can’t we have some stability in SA like the S14 franchises from Aus and NZ have…
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 49) : he’s not happy? Is that because of the management?
@robdylan (Comment 51) :
He is getting offers from France, and I think he just want to give the S14 another try because this year went to bad.
to bad = so bad
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 52) :
He will need to give the S14 a serious go and as early as the final whistle of the CC final…. 😀
Who thinks there might actually be a costal side in the CC final for the first time since 2003…
If WP don’t start wining a few games soon they will be too far behind to even make the semi’s in spite of their Bokke returning…
And if not mistaken Grant and Willem are out for the remainder of the season so all that will be returning will be Mujati/Bekker/Schalk/Jean…not that many anyways….and besides Jean and Schalk the rest wont make that great of a difference to their side…but lets not forget what great difference the likes of Schalk and Jean will make (including the fact that they will actually have a captain)…
So it will pretty much be up to the Sharks….and with all their Bokke back at the Business end of the CC…they might just be in with a shot…
Peter de Villiers chose 14 out of 15 best men.
In his shoes I should have picked François Steyn at No. 13 and sent Adi to the bench. 😕
@Die Jood (Comment 59) : Steyn fan? Afraid all the hair puts me off 😉
@robdylan (Comment 60) :
Are all Adi fan bald-headed? 😆
@Die Jood (Comment 61) : Grrrrr….
Honestly, I wouldve picked the same team. JP my boy, I hope you are really back. Andries- play like a man. Percy-play like a boytjie!
Respect to the old guy, you got have some serious staying power to get 100 caps in land of the many test caps.
Wonder if some of the northern breathern will finally acknowledge that he is in fact a legend.
@Sauce (Comment 64) :
I’ll admit that there were times that I doubted Percy, but he is definitely a legend..
100 test caps (11 more than Joost in 2nd place)
887 test points (575 more than Naas in 2nd place)
25 test tries (4th placed Bok of all time)
150 conversions kicked (100 more than Naas in 2nd place)
148 penalties kicked (93 more than Braam van Straaten in 2nd place)
6 drop goals (4th placed Bok of all time)
@walter van transvaal.co.za (Comment 65) : Naas only kicked 50 conversions?? Did the try scoring increased that dramatically!!But then one should keep in mind Naas did not play as many tests.
You always come through when stats are needed!! 🙂
@Silver Fox (Comment 66) :
Trying to score some brownie points??? 😉
Considering that Jon Smit, Bakkies and Jacques Fourie are crocked and that Os has retired then this team could have been picked by Jake White. 😯
Just some humor to start the day…
Why coloureds can’t be terrorists: by MARK LOTTERING
– Ons is altyd laat. We would have missed all 4 flights.
– We talk loud and would bring attention to ourselves.
– Met free kos en cooldrink oppie plane, we’ll sommer forget why we’re there.
– We praat with our hands, so we’ll continually be putting the weapons down.
– We would ALL want to fly the freaking plane, ending in a m — se fight with each other.
– We’ll sommer argue and start a fight in the terminal before we even get on the plane & one of us is bound to say out loud: “Gaan k* k man! Dan hijack jy die f – n plane alleen!!”
– Ons kannie ‘n secret hou nie. We would have told everyone a week before doing it, telling them: “Moet vir niemand se nie, ho!”
– We would have insisted that the plane fly past Strandfontein Pavillion.
– We would have all lined up to get our photograph taken by one of the hostages.
– When we enter the cockpit, we would have used the intercom system for a karaoke session, with one doos trying to sing ‘I did it my way’.
– We would first rob every one of their Ray-Bans, cellphones and gold teeth, just before we crash the plane.
– Our whole freaking family plus neighbors would have been at the airport to see us off, crying their bleddie eyes out, and your mother saying to the white ou next to her: “I’m so proud of him. It’s the first time he’s hijacking a plane!”
– We would have dressed like terrorists for our airport go-way clothes: balaclavas, jumpsuits, karate skoentjies, dark glasses, en ‘n m-se attitude.
– Two of us would have forgotten our passports at home..
– Three of us would have overweight luggage.
– All of us would have luggage.
– We would have all wanted to watch the in-flight movie first.
– Before we went into action, we would have all queued up at the toilet to first gel our hair.
– We would have taken the plane for a joyride first, played the music at full blast and try to park the plane somewhere where the chicks could see us…
I was also not a great believer in Percy,to be honest I was horrified when I heard that he is coming to the Sharks from Europe. I was proved wrong and he has become a legend of SA rugby. I hope the Sprinboks wins this game for Percy.May he score his 26th try and his 155 conversion this weekend. 🙂
@I’ce (Rebel With a Cause) (Comment 69) : Hi Ice!! I will ignore the previous remark, but I like the way old Walter are always ready to give us some stats. By the way, have you seen his site? Pretty impressive, where as you are only pretty. 😉
If you do not get your ass kicked here, I don’t know…. 😯
@Pokkel (Comment 70) : Same here Pokkel, regarding Percy. But they do not treat the players abroad the same as here. When Percy came back, he could actually play rugby. IMO it has slipped a bit since then again, but still, his record are not open to discussions against him.
Also true as per Jaco vd Westhuizen, he at least knew what rugby meant when he came back!! 👿
Lekka Percy !!!
@Silver Fox (Comment 71) : also not sure about that 😉
@Silver Fox (Comment 71) :
If you do not get your ass kicked here, I don’t know…. 😯 – I presume this is a note to yourself??? 🙄 You have not seen impressive… 😉
Comment 69 by I’ce (Rebel With a Cause)
Worth noting that Lottering denies ever writing that and when asked for comment suggested it was a tad umhhhh offside.
@Sauce (Comment 75) :
Thanks Sauce….and no offense meant by it…apologise if that was out of line.. 😳
@I’ce (Rebel With a Cause) (Comment 76) : let’s just say it was borderline and we’d expect a tad more discretion next time? 😉
Not to worry, i wasn’t offended, i just thought it should be known he didn’t write it. Nothing worse than being mis-quoted….ask any bok coach 😀
@robdylan (Comment 77) :
Rob – I consider myself ka-chinged over the nuckles…although I need to say in my own defence – and MY opinion – one should be able to laugh at yourself – and although Mark did not write that – that is kinda his way of making fun of himself…
But discretion will be used in future..
@I’ce (Rebel With a Cause) (Comment 79) : 🙂
@Silver Fox (Comment 71) :
What do I owe you?
What I didn’t say is that in the 99 tests that he has played, his win ratio is 65.7%
Just too good to let go unpunished… 😀 We will talk about that sometime in the future, believe me we will!!
@Silver Fox (Comment 83) :
Sounds like I’m supposed to know you? Do I?