News

Van Niekerk named at eight

Thursday 03rd July 2008

Surprise: Van Niekerk is a surprise selection at number eight

South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has sprung a major surprise by naming Joe van Niekerk at number eight for Saturday's Tri-Nations opener against New Zealand.

In the build up to the Test, much talk has centred around who will make up the Springboks back row, although nobody really gave Van Niekerk much hope of starting.

But De Villiers has named him at eight, leaving Pierre Spies and Ryan Kankowski out of the squad altogether, with Luke Watson on the bench providing back row cover.

Van Niekerk came on as a first half replacement against Italy and had an impressive Super 14 campaign to muscle his way back into the Springbok set-up.

"He [van Niekerk] had a brilliant Super 14 and showed he means business," said De Villiers.

"There is a great deal of decision-making running down the spine of the side and he can make a contribution. The pressure is on all of them."

Elsewhere Odwa Ndungane retains his place on the wing to win his second cap, and he is joined in the back three by Conrad Jantjes and Bryan Habana.

John Smit returns to the side at hooker, as expected, meaning Bismarck du Plessis drops down to the bench. De Villiers has opted for experience at prop, naming CJ van der Linde and Gurthro Steenkamp at tighthead and loosehead respectively.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Percy Montgomery.

Date: Saturday 5 July, 2008
Kick-off: 19:35 (08:35 BST)
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Touch judges: Matt Goddard, James Leckie (Australia)
Television match official: George Ayoub (Australia)
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (IRB)