Here comes the wet-weather Boks
White bulks up his pack
Springbok coach Jake White, in anticipation of rain in Cape Town, will name a much bulkier team to face the French in a one-off test at Newlands on Saturday. In short, White is going for a wet-weather team.
It will mean that burly Bulls lock Danie Rossouw will move to flank and Stormers midfielder De Wet Barry will play in his first test of the year at inside centre.
The team that trained for most part on Tuesday will show at least five changes from that which beat Scotland last week – including two positional switches.
Brent Russell will come in on the right wing for Breyton Paulse, with the latter's hamstring injury having worsened and bruising having appeared on the damaged area.
De Wet Barry will come in at inside centre, with Wynand Olivier moving from No.12 to No.13 in the place of André Snyman, who trained on his own on Tuesday to give his injured wrist more recovery time.
There could be another backline change, with the possibility of Enrico Januarie coming in at scrum-half for Fourie du Preez. Januarie ran at scrum-half for long period at training on Tuesday, but White will probably make that call only on Wednesday.
Up front there is the welcome return of Bakkies Botha, who is set tom partner long-time second row teammate Victor Matfield at lock – despite Botha spending long periods of Tuesday's training on the sideline. White said he has fully recovered from his Achilles injury and they were just "nursing" him back.
With Botha at lock, Rossouw will move to flank in the place of the injured Schalk Burger (out till at least January with neck surgery).
The replacement bench could also feature a few "wet-weather" players – with the bulkier Bulls hooker Gary Botha set to take over from Hanyani Shimange, Lawrence Sephaka covering prop, Albert van den Berg the lock replacement and Pedrie Wannenburg set to cover the loose forwards.
The backline replacements are likely to be either Januarie or Du Preez, whichever one doesn't start, Wayne Julies and Gaffie Du Toit.
White made it clear the possibility of rain on Saturday has played a role in his selections this week.
"I'm hoping it rains," White said. "I've got a sneaky suspicion it will be wet [at Newlands on Saturday]. If it is wet then those [selection] decisions – de Wet [Barry] and Danie [Rossouw] are justified.
"You want to double up in terms of your mass in the pack," he said.
But White also feels he needs some extra line-out options against the French.
"It does offer us more in the line-outs. France play a lot from the line-outs and this gives us more height in the line-outs," White said.
He also said he does not consider Rossouw a test lock – even though that's the position he plays in for the Bulls.
"Danie [Rossouw] has more test caps at flank than at lock. For me he is a flank, playing lock," White said – a view which contradicts the opinion of Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer.
And he also feels there is no risk with his backline selection, since it is similar to the combination that played France in Port Elizabeth last year.
On that occasion the backline consisted of Enrico Januarie, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, De Wet Barry, Marius Joubert, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana and Percy Montgomery. Of these only De Villiers and Joubert are not available, both injured.
And the decision to shift Olivier from inside centre to outside centre is also not an issue for White, who was quick to point out that Olivier has played outside centre for the Bulls on numerous occasions last year.
Springbok team – possible: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Brent Russell, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Fourie du Preez/Enrico January, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Danie Rossouw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 John Smit, 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 Lawrence Sephaka, 18 Pedrie Wannenburg, 19 Albert van den Berg, 20 Fourie du Preez/Enrico January, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Gaffie du Toit.
By Jan de Koning
