Scotland v South Africa, Murrayfield, November 20
De Villiers tinkers with starting line-up
ESPNscrum Staff
November 16, 2010
Springboks coach Peter de Villiers talks to the media, South Africa press conference, Shimla Park, Bloemfontein, South Africa, August 31, 2010
Springbok boss Peter de Villiers has tinkered with his starting line-up for Saturday's clash with Scotland © Getty Images
Enlarge

South Africa head coach Peter de Villiers has made four changes to the side which defeated Wales on Saturday for this weekend's encounter with Scotland at Murrayfield.

Two of the changes are enforced, with Bryan Habana having been ruled out of the rest of the tour through injury and Bjorn Basson having been sent home along with replacement hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle, after both tested positive for a banned stimulant following the tour-opening win over Ireland last Saturday week.

The uncapped Lwazi Mvovo replaces Habana on the left wing, while Basson's unavailability sees Gio Aplon switch to the right wing and Zane Kirchner earn a recall at fullback.

Elsewhere, Francois Hougaard has been preferred to Ruan Pienaar scrum-half, while Ryan Kankowski has taken over at No.8 from Pierre Spies. Pienaar has been relegated to the bench but Spies misses out altogether.

The news that both Basson and Ralepelle had failed drugs tests has completely overshadowed the Boks' preparations for the game in Edinburgh but de Villiers insists that they have already put the controversy behind them.

"We have moved on, we're professional, we know how to deal with tough moments and we look forward to playing the game on Saturday," he said.

Turning his attention to his team selection, de Villiers defended his decision to replace the much-vaunted Spies with Kankowski at No.8.

"This one for us is an opportunity, with some things in the future in mind, to see how on a par our players are," added De Villiers. "We know how good they are, but whether they fit into the team only on the field of play is where you will find out.

"You don't make experiments at international level, you just reward players for what you believe they can bring to the game. We just have to use our players to the best of our ability.

"There is a World Cup next year. You would have to be stupid if you think that 15 players or 22 players can win a World Cup for you. You have to have a squad of 30, so I'm just using the opportunity that this tour gives me and I will play all the players on this tour."

South Africa: Z Kirchner (Blue Bulls); G Aplon (Western Province), F Steyn (Racing Metro), J de Villiers (Western Province), L Mvovo (Natal Sharks); M Steyn (Blue Bulls), F Hougaard (Blue Bulls); T Mtawarira (Natal Sharks), B du Plessis (Natal Sharks), J du Plessis (Natal Sharks); B Botha (Blue Bulls), V Matfield (Blue Bulls, capt); D Stegmann (Blue Bulls), J Smith, R Kankowski (Natal Sharks)

Replacements: A Strauss (Free State Cheetahs), CJ van der Linde (Free State Cheetahs), F van der Merwe (Blue Bulls), W Alberts (Natal Sharks), R Pienaar (Ulster), P Lambie (Natal Sharks), Adi Jacobs (Natal Sharks)

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.