LONDON – Inspirational captain and centre Jean de Villiers will return to the Springbok side for their final Rugby Championship game against Argentina after plying his trade in the Currie Cup for the last fortnight.
After making a successful return for the Springboks in their Rugby Championship warm-up against a World XV side four weeks ago, de Villiers ruled himself out of the crucial two fixtures against the Wallabies and All Blacks respectively in order to continue building his match fitness with the Western Province in South Africa’s Currie Cup.
The courageous 34 year old, who sustained a potentially career-ending knee injury against Wales in last year’s end of season tour will return in place of Jesse Kriel at centre ahead of the Springboks penultimate game before launching their Rugby World Cup assault in London next month. It will be a good opportunity for de Villiers to continue his resurgence for the cornerstone tournament starting in a little over 6 weeks.
The selection is a big nod of confidence to Damian de Allende who would have been likely to be pushed out of the team with de Villiers coming back into 12 as is his usual position. The move will see Kriel start on the wing with Cornal Hendricks falling out of the squad after starting in both of South Africa’s Rugby Championship fixtures.
Springbok team to face Argentina
1. Tendai Mtawarira
2. Bismarck du Plessis
3. Vincent Koch
4. Eben Etzebeth
5. Lood de Jager
6. Heinrich Brussow
7. Marcell Coetzee
8. Schalk Burger
9. Ruan Pienaar
10. Handre Pollard
11. Bryan Habana
12. Damian de Allende
13. Jean de Villiers
14. Jesse Kriel
15. Willie le Roux
16. Adriaan Strauss
17. Trevor Nyakane
18. Marcel van der Merwe
19. Pieter-Steph du Toit
20. Siya Kolisi
21. Cobus Reinach
22. Pat Lambie
23. Lwazi Mvovo