Boks v All Blacks Teamsheets

The All Blacks and Springbok teams to face off in the second 2008 Tri Nations clash at the House of Pain in Dunedin on Saturday.

Match Details

Date: Saturday 12 July 2008
Kick-off: 19.35 NZ (07.35 GMT 09.35 SA)
Venue: Carisbrook, Dunedin, NZ
Expected weather: Cloudy with a 30% chance of rain, a high of 14°C dropping to 2°C and a westerly wind of 25 km/h, dropping.
Referee: Matt Goddard (Australia)
Touch judges: James Leckie (Australia), Paul Marks (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
Assessor: Michel Lamoulie (France

Springboks

The Bok team shows the following changes:

– Percy Montgomery reclaims the No 15 shirt at the expense of Conrad Jantjes who drops to the bench
– Odwa Ndungane is replaced by the out-of-form JP Pietersen on the wing
– Bismarck du Plessis starts at hooker, replacing Bok captain John Smit who is injured and has returned home
– Victor Matfield takes over the captaincy
– There is no place for Ryan Kankowski or Pierre Spies – even on the bench. Cheeky Watson’s son retains his position in the side
– The versatile Ruan Pienaar replaces the useless Bolla Conradie on the bench

Peter De Villiers:
“We are expecting more wet, cold weather and snow down there and we have opted for a left and a right boot in Monty and Butch. I know that JP is much better in the kicking game than Odwa Ndungane also. If we are caught and bogged down in our own 22 we’ve got enough ammunition to get out of there. We trust the players who didn’t have a good run on Saturday – all of us know that, the players know that.”

Victor Matfield:
“I don’t read too many papers and the guys are honest, we didn’t have the best of games last week. But it’s always good to be in New Zealand, the people are so nice to us and I love touring here. Some of the guys were playing a bit of golf this week, while others were just lying on their beds and others were spending a lot of time in Starbucks. You talk about ending the hoodoo over here but we want to win the competition and that’s why this game is important. We must not lose focus, we’ve lost one game in the Tri-Nations.”

All Blacks

The All Blacks have made two changes to their starting side:

– Anthony Boric replaces the suspended Brad Thorn at lock
– John Afoa starts ahead of Greg Somerville, who drops out of the matchday 22
– Chiefs lock Kevin O’Neill is included on the bench

The Teams

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