Rugby Championship
Jean de Villiers captains Springboks against Argentina
ESPN Staff
August 5, 2015
Jean de Villiers of South Africa during the match between South Africa and World VX
Jean de Villiers of South Africa during the match between South Africa and World VX© Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images

Jean de Villiers will captain the Springboks when they face Argentina in Durban on Saturday.

It will be De Villiers' first Test since November when he suffered what could have been a career-ending knee injury against Wales. But his recovery has been remarkable and his efforts in his rehabilitation have been rewarded with a start against the Pumas.

De Villiers came off the bench against the World XV in July and he will partner Damien de Allende in the centres for Saturday's game. Jesse Kriel, who has played the last two Tests at outside centre, shifts to the wing in place of Cornal Hendricks.

"Jean's comeback is truly remarkable and very inspirational and I can't wait to see what he can offer playing next to exciting youngsters such as Handré Pollard, Damian and Jesse," said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer. "Jean now has 160 minutes of rugby behind him since his comeback a month ago and I'm very satisfied that he will be able to make his mark as player and captain.

"Jesse is a very versatile player - he has played at wing before and spent almost the entire Vodacom Super Rugby season at fullback. His aerial skills and work-rate, as well as tactical kicking will be valuable and hopefully he will be given even more space to attack in."

Elsewhere in the squad, Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit are named on the bench while Marcell Coetzee replaces Francois Louw in the back-row and Vincent Koch comes in for Jannie du Plessis in the front-row with both ruled out through injury.

"It will be a massive Test on Saturday, which is why he have decided to build momentum and give combinations more time to settle," Meyer said. "We will never accept that we lost our last two Tests. On both occasions we were in positions to win and we let it slip, which is simply not good enough. It will be tough as the Argentineans will be coming for us, as they have been doing in the last three seasons, but it will be a great test for the Boks and I can't wait for the challenge on Saturday.

"There have been many encouraging signs in Brisbane and Johannesburg but I've always preferred winning results. For most of these matches, we played well, but now we need to get back to winning ways and to do that we have to convert our opportunities into points."

South Africa:

Willie Le Roux, Jesse Kriel, Jean de Villiers (captain), Damian de Allende, Bryan Habana, Handre Pollard, Ruan Pienaar; Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Vincent Koch, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Heinrich Brussow, Marcell Coetzee, Schalk Burger

Replacements: Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane, Marcel van der Merwe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Cobus Reinach, Pat Lambie, Lwazi Mvovo

© ESPN Staff

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