Victor Matfield will lead Springboks in last pool match of 2011 Rugby World Cup against Samoa
The South African Rugby Union’s international lock, Victor Matfield, has been named as the captain for their upcoming match against Samoa. The Springboks will play their last pool match of the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) against Samoa on Friday, September
30 at North Harbour Stadium, Auckland.
Matfield will make his return to the match-day squad after successfully recovering from a hamstring injury, which he sustained earlier in the tournament. The South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed the decision in a statement released on their website
on Monday, September 26. Besides this, SARU has also released the playing roster for the Samoan encounter.
Matfield will lead the side in place of their World Cup winning hooker and Captain, John Smit. Smit will start the match from the bench. The move is purely a tactical one, as the Springboks management has planned to give a start to their impressive front
row forwards player, Bismarck du Plessis.
SARU has announced seven changes in their squad, as compared to the squad which delivered a 87-point defeat to the Namibia on Thursday, September 22. Although Springboks are safely placed in their pool points table, they will enter the match requiring a
point to confirm their spot in the quarter-finals of the 2011 RWC.
In other changes, Tendai Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis will join Bismarck to complete the front row forwards trio. Matfield return has forced Danie Rossouw to move to the number four positions, as the duo will form the second row forwards packs. Heinrich
Brussow will start the match as the flanker in the starting xv.
In the backs group, Francois Hougaard has been dropped to the bench for the last match. Meanwhile the duo of JP Pietersen and Fourie du Preez will start the encounter at the winger and scrum half positions respectively.
Besides Bakkies Botha, the rest of the forwards line will start the Friday match from the bench. Botha is missing from action due to a hamstring injury, which he sustained in the Springboks last encounter against Namibia.
The Springboks squad for their Samoan encounter consists of
Starting XV: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie Du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie Du Plessis,
2 Bismarck Du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Jean De Villiers.
Tags: