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SPRINGBOK TEAM TO FACE THE WALLABIES
Springbok management has named the team to play Australia in the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate game in Sydney on July 7. The match, to be played at Telstra Stadium, is part of the Vodacom Tri-Nations series.
The starting fifteen has one uncapped player in Jannie Du Plessis, while his brother, Bismarck Du Plessis, and Peter Grant might also earn their first caps, if they come off the bench.
Australia will play in their 22nd Test at Telstra Stadium, which opened in 1999. Telstra Stadium holds the world record for crowd attendance. About 109 874 spectators attended the match between Australia and New Zealand on July 15, 2000. After the 2003 Olympics the capacity has been reduced to 83 500.
South Africa’s overall record against Australia is: Played 61; Won 37; Lost 23; Drawn 1.
Jannie de Beer holds the record of 26 points in a Test against Australia, while Hennie van Zyl is the only Springbok to have scored a hat-trick of tries in a Test against them.
The Springbok team for Saturday is as follows (existing caps in brackets):
15 Bevin Fortuin (1)
14 Breyton Paulse (62)
13 Waylon Murray (1)
12 Wynand Olivier (15)
11 JP Pietersen (4)
10 Derick Hougaard (6)
9 Ruan Pienaar (10)
8 Bob Skinstad (37) (C)
7 Pedrie Wannenburg (18)
6 Wikus van Heerden (5)
5 Johann Muller (14)
4 Johan Ackermann (12)
3 Jannie Du Plessis (-)
2 Gary Botha (7)
1 CJ van der Linde (37)
Bench:
16 Bismarck du Plessis ( - )
17 Eddie Andrews (21)
18 Albert van den Berg (44)
19 Jacques Cronje (29)
20 Michael Claassens (6)
21 Peter Grant ( - )
22 Jaco Pretorius (7)
Other interesting facts and figures going into Saturday’s game:
· It will be Skinstad’s eleventh Test as a captain, while it will be Van Heerden’s first Test since 2003.
· Saturday’s Test will be the 43rd for Jake White as Head Coach.
· Saturday’s referee is Paul Honiss of New Zealand. It will be the seventh time that he officiates as referee in a Test involving the Springboks.