Fourie du Preez to captain South Africa against Scotland
Friday 2 October 2015 16:14, UK
South Africa head coach Heyneke Meyer has made three changes to the starting line-up that defeated Samoa 46-6 for their clash against Scotland in Newcastle.
Bismarck du Plessis steps in for Adriaan Strauss at hooker, Lood de Jager comes in for Victor Matfield in the second row and Jesse Kriel will play outside centre with injured Jean de Villiers ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.
Scrum-half Fourie du Preez will captain the Springboks for the first time in his 73-test career as he is preferred to Schalk Burger to lead the side at St James' Park.
"I've got a lot of confidence in Fourie," Meyer said. "I've coached him since he was 19 and even back in the day I was astonished about his rugby knowledge and always believed he would be a rugby genius - and he is a rugby genius, and respected worldwide for his knowledge of the game.
"Fourie's not a guy of a lot of words, not like me, but he's a true warrior and that's what you're going to need. We've been under pressure since day one of the championship. The players respect him. Usually on the field he's a natural leader. He knows what I want on the field. The biggest thing is he knows how to win."
Du Preez, who earlier this year revealed plans to retire at the end of the season, agreed his captaincy would be in a considered style. "It's a massive honour and privilege being asked to be captain," he said. "I'm not going to be a big motivational speaker but hopefully I can lead from the front."
On the bench Meyer has taken a chance by picking loose forward Willem Alberts who is still carrying an injury. "Willem is 50/50 at the moment but I decided that if he can't play this week then he can't play the following week," he added.
"We have decided we have to take a chance on Willem. It was a rugby decision. Willem has always played well for us when he is 100 per cent fit, and he puts in the big hits and is good at taking us across the advantage line."
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (c); 1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Lood de Jager, 6 Francois Louw, 7 Schalk Burger, 8 Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein
