“I will be eternally grateful to him”. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Schalk Burger, 6.
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JOHANNESBURG -Fourie Du Preez has been given the captain’s armband ahead of the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup clash against Scotland on Saturday, while Schalk Burger will serve as vice captain. He is introverted and soft spoken, but has the respect of his team-mates.
Meyer is so desperate to keep Alberts a chance that he feels the Sharks man’s confidence and game time is way more important that it is for Kolisi, who is the fittest and more prepared of the two flankers. “He is nearly at his best and he wants to win what will probably be his last World Cup“, explained the coach. “I have thought about it for a long time, and in 2012, there was a similar situation”. Hopefully, I can lead by example and the team will follow me.
Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez will captain SA against Scotland on Saturday.
“I’m not going to be a big motivational speaker or whatever”. I’m very happy that I have the opportunity now and that Schalk and Duane, who are both good friends of mine, have told me they will back me and I’ll do it with them. “I hope to lead from the front”.
Meyer has chosen scrum-half Fourie du Preez to captain the team in succession to Jean de Villiers, who was ruled out of the tournament and subsequently announced his retiral from global rugby after breaking his jaw in last week’s 46-6 win over Samoa.
Jesse Kriel will link up in the centres with Damian De Allende in place of de Villiers, whose worldwide career was ended by a broken jaw against the Samoans, while Lood de Jager takes over from Matfield at lock.
The third change is a rotational switch at hooker, where Bismarck du Plessis returns in the place of Adriaan Strauss, who will move to the bench.
When De Villiers re-joins the squad, it will be to mentor South Africa’s three young centres.
“He is respected worldwide because of his knowledge about the game and if you look at the history of South Africa, wherever Fourie has played – even when he left for Japan – those teams always won”.
South Africa captain Jean de Villiers has been discharged from hospital within hours of completing surgery on his jaw.
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“I’ve been working on it and know my role, and even though Scotland have a few guys who speak Afrikaans, we haven’t changed our calls much”, De Jager said.
