The Springboks have resisted the temptation to wield the axe following their terrible performance in the 1st test and have made only two enforced changes - Danie Rossouw for Bakkies & CJ van der Linde for the injured Janie du Plessis. Only one change to the bench with Kankowski coming in to take Rossouw's place.
It's been interesting to see the Boks' reaction this week to their 20 point drubbing. They seem to be taking the attitude that they just didn't front mentally & have the chance to put it right this weekend. There has been no real excuses or complaining. I was expecting more talk about the sin binning but they have just taken it on the chin. I guess they realise that they were lucky to not have been down a man longer.
The exception to all this is of course PdV who has seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the amount of times the headbutt was shown on the big screen. Maybe the more important question should revolve around some of his selections ....
It is very difficult to work out the preference for Olivier at 2nd five & de Villiers on the wing. From my point of view, Olivier was poor in the Super 14 & carried along by the strength of the Bulls while de Villiers has always posed problems for NZ from number 12. Does he not trust Aplon on the wing & if so, why pick him in the squad? What about Francois Hougaard?
The choice of Januarie ahead of Pienaar just seems a case of pure stubbornness (or dare I say it - the quota system). While Pienaar is no du Preez, he certainly has a stronger allround game than Januarie. Then there is the jump of van der Linde from outside the 22 to start ahead of a specialist tighthead - BJ Botha. Van der Linde has not played tighthead once for the Boks this season? Maybe they are worried about the speed of the game & are sacrificing some set piece quality in that regard.
The choice of Rossouw ahead of Bekker is understandable given the nature of "tight lock" that he will need to play. Finally I am surprised there are not spots in the 22 for Potgieter & de Jongh who have been form players this year ahead of Kankowski & James.
The All Black 22 will be announced on Thursday. The only possible changes to the starting line up will be if Cowan (replaced by Weepu) or Rokocoko (replaced by Guildford) are ruled out. I expect Ranger to come onto the bench for Kahui.
