Steyn stays at flyhalf

SPRINGBOK head coach Peter de Villiers has named an unchanged starting line-up for this weekend’s highly anticipated Tri-Nations encounter with Robbie Deans’ Wallabies side at Newlands in Cape Town.

The Bok coach kept intact the team that beat the All Blacks by 31-19 in Durban last weekend to win their second consecutive Tri-Nations Test against New Zealand.The only change to the Springbok team is on the bench, where fit-again Ruan Pienaar takes the place of Wynand Olivier.Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha will play together as a lock pairing for the 50th time in a Test for the Springboks. Matfield will play in his 86th Test and Botha in his 60th.Jean de Villiers, who played in his 50th Test last weekend, will on Saturday surpass De Wet Barry’s record for the most capped Springbok centre of all time, when he will run out in the midfield for the 40th time. He played on the wing and as a replacement in his 11 other Tests.The Bok coach stressed that players who lost their places in the squad will struggle to regain their spot in the Springbok line-up.’If the players conduct themselves in the manner that they are at the moment, it’s easy to pick the team,’ De Villiers told reporters in Cape Town.’If you lose your spot in this team through injury or anything else, it’s going to be hard to get back into it. That’s the competition we have in the side. It’s the way we want it and I think it’s healthy.’DE VILLIERS STICKSWITH JANUARIE De Villiers resisted the temptation of including Pienaar in place of Ricky Januarie, which would have allowed the Boks to possibly include an extra forward on the bench. Pienaar’s inclusion in the match-day 22 does, however, give De Villiers the option of introducing the Sharks playmaker as a late spark in the backline.’Ruan Pienaar was always part of our plans. [But] I think it would do injustice to the guys who did so well last Saturday to bring guys straight back,’ he said.’Ruan is still one of our better players. He is now a flyhalf and not a scrumhalf. When we need a 5-2 bench we might consider it but we don’t need it now.He also explained his reasons for retaining Januarie on the bench.’I’d like the guys to specialise in their positions. It brings that flavour that we need in the team so much more to the fore,’ he explained.’Ricky went back, he worked hard and I think he showed when he came on the field [last Saturday] that he deserves his spot.’De Villiers highlighted the Wallabies’ patient phase play as one of the key differences from the Australasian neighbours, New Zealand.’They [Wallabies] will keep the ball a lot longer [and] they will be very patient in putting up phases,’ De Villiers said.’There’s small differences between the three teams and anyone can win the game on the day. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.’Bok midfielder Jaque Fourie is struggling with flu but is expected to be ready for training on Thursday while speedster Bryan Habana was on the sidelines during yesterday’s session, sorting out a minor niggle.South Africa: 15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (captain), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Adi Jacobs. – www.rugby365.com