There were some interesting selections in Springbok coach Harry Viljoen's midweek team for their first tour game against Argentina A in Tucuman on Wednesday.

Seasoned scrumhalf Dan van Zyl was handed the captaincy role. And the coach said he wanted to kick the tour off on a winning note - therefore the inclusion of a lot of experienced players.

"I concentrated on combinations I thought would succeed. A lot of those players have considerable experience and we're going to need that against an Argentina A side consisting of a lot of Tucuman players," Viljoen said Sunday.

Viljoen emphasised that he's expecting a real tough battle. "What worries me is that one of South Africa's top clubs, Stellenbosch, got a hiding on Saturday from a side not regarded as one of the top sides in Argentina.

"The Argentina A side has a lot of experience and 10 or 11 of the players are from Tucuman, which means there combinations are familiar to one another.

"Interplay could be a problem for us, but we want to start the tour on a good note. We haven't worked on playing patterns a lot and in the following few days hard work lies ahead. We only started to train together as a team on Wednesday and we still need to short out a lot of things."

Viljoen said no captain for the midweek team has been officially appointed and they'll decide on that from game to game. He said, however, that Van Zyl is a good tactician.

"He (Van Zyl) has a lot of ideas about the game and we needed someone smart to lead the team. We don't just want to play with passion, we must think on our feet continuously and Dan has the potential to lead the team well."

Deon Kayser has been included at outside centre for the first time in the Springbok jersey. After playing a lot of his rugby in that position early in his career and also starring for the Emerging Springboks and the SA A team, he was moved to wing.

Viljoen was reluctant to say whether he regards No 13 to be the Natal Sharks star's best position, but admitted he depended on the advice of assistant coach Andre Markgraaff and technical advisor Ian McIntosh when he decided to shift Kayser closer to the action.

"That's not a question I can answer right now, but Mac and Markies think outside centre is Deon's best position. The following four weeks will give me a much better idea of the players' strengths and weaknesses," said Viljoen.

Viljoen said he had a reason for including Test incumbent Charl Marais in the midweek side. "He will definitely see some action in the Test," was all Viljoen was prepared to say.

It seems a strong possibility that John Smit, one
of the brightest prospects in South African rugby, will get his first start at hooker in next Sunday's Test against the Pumas at the famous River Plate Stadium.