PADOVA: Johan Goosen will make his first start at fullback for the Springboks in Saturday’s Test against Italy.
Goosen, who has five Test caps at flyhalf, has been operating in his new position for French club Racing Metro in recent months, and Bok coach Heyneke Meyer decided to give him an opportunity at No 15 when he announced his team today, with first-choice Willie le Roux on the bench.
Meyer made four changes in total to his starting line-up, with two of them enforced. As expected, Teboho Mohoje comes in at blindside flank for Schalk Burger, who is been granted time off from the team, while Coenie Oosthuizen comes in at tighthead prop for the injured Jannie du Plessis.
But the Bok coach also decided to hand Trevor Nyakane a well-deserved start at loosehead prop. Nyakane has had some excellent cameos off the bench this year, and his elevation to the starting team sees Tendai Mtawarira getting a break.
On the bench, there are two potential debutants in Lions prop Julian Redelinghuys and Western Province No 8 Nizaam Carr, while the other new faces among the replacements are loosehead prop Gurthrö Steenkamp and lock Lood de Jager.
“I’m excited to see what these guys can do on Saturday in what will be a stern Test against a fired-up Italy,” said Meyer. “We planned to make a few shifts for this Test as I’d like to see if these players can make the step up.
“The guys coming in deserve their opportunities and seeing that we won’t have our overseas-based players available next week against Wales, it made sense to bring a few of them in this week.
“Nizaam can cover all the positions in the back-row and his call-up is just-reward after a very good season for the Stormers and Western Province.
“Julian has been superb for the Lions this season and he’s shown that he can scrum. Both of them are now familiar with our plays and structures and I’m looking forward to see what they can bring on Saturday.
“It will also be a good test for Johan, who I’ve always regarded as a possibility at fullback. He has a great skill-set and a massive boot, which will come in handy on Saturday if we have to play in wet weather again.”
Saturday’s match kicks off at 4pm South African time.
SPRINGBOK TEAM
15 Johan Goosen, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Trevor Nyakane. Bench: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Willie le Roux. - Independent Media