Aplon in, Bismarck out
20 Sep 2011
The Springboks have made five changes to their starting line-up to face Namibia at the North Habour Stadium in Auckland on Thursday.
In the back division Bryan Habana and Gio Aplon replace JP Pietersen and Odwa Ndungane on the wings. The latter duo are dropped from the squad completely. Francois Hougaard gets a start at his preferred position of scrumhalf, with Fourie du Preez playing off the wood.
Among the heavies, Willem Alberts starts at openside flank in place of Heinrich Brussow, whose is named among the reserves alongside another specialist fetcher, Francois Louw. CJ van der Linde earns his first start at the tournament at tighthead prop in place of Jannie du Plessis, who’ll watch from the stands.
Chiliboy Ralepelle, omitted from the 22 for the first two Tests, will get game time off the bench, while Ruan Pienaar and Juan de Jongh’s versatility means the back division are well covered.
After the victory over Fiji in Wellington coach Peter de Villiers said that he valued continuity in selection, but on Tuesday explained that he needed to rotate with a view of having a full fit squad.
‘The biggest challenge for us it to manage the players. We’ve had two bruising encounters and we have to be sensible if we want to have 30 players fit throughout the tournament. We’re getting thin in some areas, injuries are our biggest concern at this point,’ he said.
Captain John Smit acknowledged the difficulty of preparing for a match just five days after their victory in Wellington, but stressed complacency wouldn’t be a factor.
‘There are challenges every weekend, but motivation isn’t one of those. It is important for us to be ruthless. There are still a lot of areas we want to improve and if we don’t have the proper focus we won’t get what we want out of this match,’ he said. ‘This is an opportunity to carry on the journey to where we want to be and improve our standards. Having played two games here and a couple before some guys have had enough game to move towards their best form. That needs to continue.
‘In a week like this with as short a turnaround you don’t get that much field time to prepare. So the challenge is achieving perfection in the base areas of our game, the set piece and so on.’
The Springboks are expected to beat Namibia comfortably and should negotiate Samoa’s challenge without too much problems, setting up a quarter-final against Australia. Asked whether he had cast his mind ahead to that epic tussle Smit said: ‘One thing about the World Cup is that at this stage there are so many permutations floating about. If you get wrapped up in what lies ahead you may lose sight of what you want to achieve at present. We have to think a week at a time and not worry about what lies ahead.’
De Villiers was bullish when probed on the issue of Habana’s form, arguing that the former IRB Player of the Year wouldn’t have breaking the South African try-scoring record (he is the joint-highest scorer) as a central focus.
‘I don’t think people understand the ethos of this team. If you can point out one player that puts his personal interests above those of the team’s I’ll send them home immediately. There are personal goals we achieve in life and if Bryan breaks the record it will be a wonderful achievement. But what if he scores and we lose? That ultimately is no good.’
Springboks – 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (c), Gurthro Steenkamp.
Subs: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Francois Louw, 19 Heinrich Brüssow, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Juan de Jongh.
608 Comments
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20 Sep 2011, 18:51 pm
Jirre this vokken tecumtwat is so vokken tasteless rude onbeskof out of vokken order
20 Sep 2011, 19:16 pm
@ Dawn, looking good ladies… Nice!
20 Sep 2011, 19:22 pm
Half of this thread is in xhosa. WTF
20 Sep 2011, 19:25 pm
utata imini isuzu udaewo ngora-gora crater ikakalaka – hau?!
20 Sep 2011, 19:26 pm
I’m sorry but wishing someone’s father gone is just not on no way
20 Sep 2011, 19:31 pm
Can Keo set up a “separate but equal” site for those who wish to exclude others by communicating in minority languages.
20 Sep 2011, 19:32 pm
@ Cab, uyou forgotto abouto utoyota andaou yzoom – yzoom
20 Sep 2011, 19:33 pm
@ dawn, that lady from the add wouldn’t take it seriously, harden up. Click click
20 Sep 2011, 19:34 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-406:
ufokoff
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-407:
i see u are fluent.
its great to see some zulu spoken on here – luckily i am fluent. idankie.
20 Sep 2011, 19:35 pm
@cab(cab)-409: enow iI iundastandi uyou too mush.
20 Sep 2011, 19:35 pm
Trans, mshimi, mpundlu = The 3 Blackateers
20 Sep 2011, 19:38 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-410:
that is a very poor attempt uspooner- 1/10 – bottom of the class.
20 Sep 2011, 19:38 pm
Ufrom nowaon uweorus uwill bea xaktalking ina isizulu or amaxhosa
20 Sep 2011, 19:40 pm
@ woodenspoon, I agree with cab. You get the… Woodenspoon
20 Sep 2011, 19:40 pm
@cab(cab)-412: I care not.
Well, we all know telling people not to do something only makes them want to do it more. So, we’ll ride through this new craze until the novelty wears off and normal service in an international language resumes.
20 Sep 2011, 19:43 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-405:
Despicable scum. But notice – to everyone’s credit – that after that post, he was ignored. Bloggers like that thrive on a reaction and love the attention. He put his tail between his legs and departed.
20 Sep 2011, 19:43 pm
Course I take it seriously.
You don’t wish someone’s family member dead and then call him a nazi then say you gonna celebrate.
20 Sep 2011, 19:44 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-415:
i think its pretty cool – the more the merrier, can only be good for the game – in a few years time, you will switch onto SABC and hear kobus wiese say:
“utata imini udaewo ijazz uSpringBoks … lielielilieeeeeeeee”
20 Sep 2011, 19:44 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-415:
Vamanos, cabron! Dale en la Madre.
20 Sep 2011, 19:46 pm
@ cab, don’t forget that dance they do in the rugby add on SABC
20 Sep 2011, 19:48 pm
This appears to be the whining section thread.
20 Sep 2011, 19:49 pm
Ahora bien, este es un idioma que yo entiendo! Otra lengua internacional de verdad!
20 Sep 2011, 19:49 pm
Wish i could click click him away
20 Sep 2011, 19:51 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-422:
Sounds cool. Spanish?
20 Sep 2011, 19:54 pm
no ways you can compare a boring language like spanish to the rhythmical drumming of isizulu – shot thru with the spirit of africa – this why white men cant dance, luckily enough i am the exception.
20 Sep 2011, 20:00 pm
@ Cab, pretty fly for a white guy? I can’t stand langarm dance! I’m more of a one man twinkle toes close to the laaaadies
20 Sep 2011, 20:01 pm
@cab(cab)-425: you must be the first human being ever to call Spanish boring and lacking in rhythm…
20 Sep 2011, 20:02 pm
yip am afraid the closest our okes could get to a haka is a sokkie, and when bakkies takes fourie for a quick twirl, i’m not sure what sort of challenge that will be laying down to the ABs.
20 Sep 2011, 20:02 pm
Cab does a mean foxtrot
20 Sep 2011, 20:03 pm
I reckon italy will beat the irish. They looked very impressive today and ireland had their big game of the year
20 Sep 2011, 20:06 pm
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-426:
twinkle toes close to the ladies, u sound like john travolta ekse. nah, cant dance for ****, but in another life it would be good to be born daddy cool.
20 Sep 2011, 20:09 pm
I would love Italy to win but Ireland will have too much.
20 Sep 2011, 20:11 pm
All this talk of momentum is rubbish. Ireland had farkall momentum coming into the WC, I mean they almost lost against the USA! Some of these SS “experts” are clueless
20 Sep 2011, 20:13 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-427:
ja those s-s-s-s-th-th-thpanish words dont do it for me – solero, more solero. rather go to italy, they play rugby.
@Dawn(Dawn)-429:
wouldnt know where to begin, but i did watch an episode with that palooka gavin henson on strictly come ballroom dancing or some **** over here, hell i laughed, he was ****** hopeless.
20 Sep 2011, 20:13 pm
John travolta got shiit on me! Haha no seriously, I dance like a palm tree, just move the shoulders from left to right
20 Sep 2011, 20:28 pm
Ja these okes talking Tsotsitaal and saying things of great disrespect.
Transie was saying how much he loves the All Blacks and he really wishes he could do a Flash Haka in PE.
20 Sep 2011, 20:28 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-436: Mshini was saying how much he really loves Sunny Bull. Ayi man!
20 Sep 2011, 20:32 pm
Mpunlu was saying he doesn’t like to be closet all black supporter anymore, kia kaha!
20 Sep 2011, 20:32 pm
Hey all, just come off an early morning
Skype with Snorre. He’s come up with
Quite a Radical Idea…….
20 Sep 2011, 20:32 pm
Msunu wakhe blaadishit.
20 Sep 2011, 20:33 pm
@ bokke, resigning?
20 Sep 2011, 20:35 pm
Transie was swapping recipes for Transkei skokiaan…
10 litres of cane spirit
2 litres mahewu
4 ever ready AA batteries
3 lizards
1 can Chakalaka
Potent.
20 Sep 2011, 20:37 pm
tl tl tl
20 Sep 2011, 20:39 pm
@bokke bo(bokke bo)-439: Keep Frans Steyn at 12?
20 Sep 2011, 20:46 pm
You see okes, if we let Samoa beat us
but make sure to take a bonus point we
end 2nd in our group, face NH in !/4’s
and semi’s. If the gods then want it, we’ll
face Kiwis in final. Snorre however wants
go ahead from Keo luminaries first.
So, blog away………….
20 Sep 2011, 20:47 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-444:
And keep that racehorse JDV on the bench to replace tired legs.
I like your thinking.
20 Sep 2011, 20:50 pm
Can’t believe someone with the name “Bokke Bo” is asking for his team to deliberately lose… wanting your team to be champions just does not flush with being too chickensh*t to playe the next best teams in the tournament.
AND [more importantly]
Wales play Fiji AFTER our game against Samoa… by then they will know EXACTLY what to do to finish 2nd if that what they want to do… only a LOSER nation would even consider “throwing” a game.
Sies tog.
20 Sep 2011, 20:52 pm
Bokke bo is now bokke 2de. Dislike
20 Sep 2011, 20:54 pm
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-448: agreed. Huge dislike.
And lose our 100% record against a minnow nation forewver. Ag sies tog.
20 Sep 2011, 20:54 pm
Wooden spoon, do your arithmetic first before you reply. Anyway, Snorre threw the idea at me and asked me to test the waters on keo.co.za.
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