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Springboks Head Coach Heyneke Meyer named Jean de Villiers as captain of a vastly experienced lineup to face Japan in his team’s Rugby World Cup opening fixture. In what is to, remarkably, be the first ever test match between the countries de Villiers is to lead a side with a staggering 880 test caps, a South African record.
de Villiers will play inside center with the future star Jesse Kriel starting outside him. This means there is no place in the team for colored player Damian de Allende. Meyer’s side will nonetheless feature Zane Kirchner, Bryan Habana and Lwazi Mvovo as his starting back-three while a fourth non-white player the Beast, Tendai Mtawarira will play at loosehead prop.
The du Plessis brothers are to join Mtawarira in the front-row with Lood de Jager being the only player not involved in Rugby World Cup 2011 starting in the forwards. Schalk Burger, Willem Alberts and Francois Louw are all returning from New Zealand 2011 as are the starting halves Ruan Pienaar and Patrick Lambie.
The fixture is to be the opening match of Pool B, a group also containing Samoa, Scotland and the USA. Like South Africa vs Japan the pool’s second match will be played in Brighton with Samoa taking on the Eagles on Sunday.
South Africa
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jean de Villiers (Captain), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Fourie du Preez, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 JP Pietersen
