Peter de Villiers announces Springboks’ squad for 2011 Rugby World Cup opener against Wales
Defending champions Springboks has announced their match-day 22 for the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) opener against Wales. Springboks head coach, Peter de Villiers, made the roster public on Thursday, September 8.
De Villiers has compiled the Springboks most experienced side so far and the squad will take the field against Wales at Wellington on Sunday, September 11. Springboks combined caps for their RWC opener against their Northern Hemisphere rivals totals 815,
which slight edges past their previous best of 810 caps, which took the field against the Wallabies during the 2011 Tri Nations tournament at Durban.
The squad consists of 16 players which were part of the Springboks 2007 World Cup winning outfit. This includes 11 members who will begin Sunday’s match in the starting xv.
Springboks are without the services of Bakkies Botha, who is still struggling with an Achilles problem. Danie Rossouw has replaced Botha at the second row forward and will form a pair with Victor Matfield.
It has also been reported that Botha might miss the entire 2011 RWC because the injury has been aggravated. However, the Springboks camp is yet to confirm the news.
Springboks’ squad for their Sunday’s match against the Wales consists of,
Starting XV: 15 Frans Steyn (Racing Metro, France) - 43 caps, 14 JP Pietersen (The Sharks) – 38, 13 Jaque Fourie (Western Province) – 64, 12 Jean de Villiers (Western Province) – 69, 11 Bryan Habana (Western Province) – 70, 10 Morné Steyn
(Blue Bulls) – 29, 9 Fourie du Preez (Blue Bulls) – 57, 8 Pierre Spies (Blue Bulls) – 42, 7 Schalk Burger (Western Province) – 63, 6 Heinrich Brüssow (Free State Cheetahs) – 15, 5 Victor Matfield (Blue Bulls) – 107, 4 Danie Rossouw (Blue Bulls) – 58, 3 Jannie
du Plessis (The Sharks) – 26, 2 John Smit (captain) (The Sharks) – 106, 1 Tendai Mtawarira (The Sharks) – 28.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis (The Sharks) – 38, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp (Blue Bulls) – 33, 18 CJ van der Linde (Golden Lions) – 72, 19 Johann Muller (Ulster, N Ireland) – 23, 20 Willem Alberts (The Sharks) – 4, 21 Francois Hougaard (Blue
Bulls) – 10, 22 Butch James (Golden Lions) – 41.
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