De Villiers changes two for Final
'We know we face a very motivated French side'
South African coach Peter de Villiers has made two changes to his team that will face hosts France in the Final of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Under-21 World Championship at Stadium Marcel Michelin, Clermont Ferrand, France on Sunday.
South Africa's Under-21 team will aim to become only the second team to win two back-to-back IRB U21 World Championships.
The SA team will meet their hosts in a repeat of their final pool game for the right to be called the best age-group side in world.
Several members of this team were also present last year when the team won the championship in Argentina and another victory on Sunday will cement the view that things are very healthy in junior rugby in the country.
De Villiers made two changes to the team that beat New Zealand in the semi-final on Wednesday – bringing back powerful flank Hilton Lobberts and scrum-half Jano Vermaak in the places of Ashley Johnson and Warren Malgas respectively.
Lobberts and Vermaak were on the bench against New Zealand and provided the spark needed to secure the victory late in the game and have been rewarded for their consistent high standard of play.
The team will be led once again by inspirational captain Chiliboy Ralapelle, who was also a member of last year's victorious team.
"We know we face a very motivated French side, who would not have taken our victory over them very lightly," Ralapelle said.
"They showed with the way they bounced back from that defeat to beat Australia in the semi-final that they are a quality team. Given the fact that they will have a partisan crowd spurring them on, we will have to play our best rugby in order to defeat them."
Ralapelle pointed out that the continuity in the team structures was a major factor in the way the team was gelling and in their success.
"A lot of us have played together for some time now and we trust in each other and the coach, Oom Ian [Schwartz] and the management team."
De Villiers was looking forward to his second consecutive Final, but said that team discipline would be a key factor in the final.
"We played for 20 minutes with 14 men against France and were lucky that we defended so well to make it through that game. In any final, and especially on Sunday, we can't afford to be in a similar situation We need to show maturity as a team and be disciplined."
De Villiers said the team was keen to perform, especially as they knew they would be cheered on back home.
"We are here to represent our entire country, and we are keen to repay the trust that the rugby fans back home have in us with a performance worthy of the green and gold jersey we play in."
Team manager Ian Schwartz said the team was excited about the final, but will gather first on Saturday to watch their senior partners, the Springboks face France in a one-off Test at Newlands.
"We will all be together watching the Springboks and we want to wish Jake White, John Smit and his team well as they try and extend their unbeaten run at home against France.
"We are truly hoping that they will set the tone for us tomorrow, so that we can both make it a very successful weekend for South African rugby."
South Africa: 15 Marius Delport (vice-captain), 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Bradley Barritt, 11 Cedric Mkhize, 10 Isma-eel Dollie, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Keegan Daniel, 7 Hilton Lobberts, 6 Pierre Spies, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Nikolai Blignaut, 3 Sangoni Mxoli, 2 Chiliboy Ralapelle (captain), 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Bandise Maku, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Warren Malgas, 21 Joey Mongalo, 22 Scott Spedding.
Kick-off: 18.00 (16.00 GMT)
