Jacobs, Kirchner to face France

Adi Jacobs starts at inside centre against France while Zane Kirchner has been handed the fullback berth.

It was an open secret that Jacobs would fill the midfield void left by Jean de Villiers, but Kirchner’s inclusion was less certain, with Ruan Pienaar having played in the position in two Tests against Australia in the Tri-Nations, and coach Peter de Villiers intimating that he was being groomed to play there on the year-end tour, given Frans Steyn’s imminent departure for French club Racing Metro.

Elsewhere, Heinrich Brüssow and Schalk Burger should form a formidable flank combination, while the dynamic Ryan Kankowski gets a rare start in light of Pierre Spies’ injury.

The starting line-up boasts a total of 588 Test caps between them, while the bench boys add 180 to that figure. In a Test as close as Friday’s clash in Toulouse is expected to be, experience could well be the difference between victory and defeat.

The Springbok selectors have opted for a 5-2 bench split, with the bench the trio of, props Wian du Preez and CJ van der Linde, and hooker Adriaan Strauss will provide complete front row cover, while Pienaar’s utility value means he can fill in at 9, 10 or 15 and Wynand Olivier likely to get a run in the final quarter at centre, although he has played wing at Test level in the past.

‘The core of the match did duty during the Tri-Nations campaign and will provide us with stability going into this tough opening Test,’ De Villiers said.

‘There are a lot of experienced players in the starting 15 as well as on the bench which will be important to our continuity as well as to ensuring that we maintain our structures and play the way we want to.

‘I have full confidence in the new players who will be starting on Friday, they have shown their qualities before and we have to make sure we get the best out of them. The three newcomers are all good players in their own right. CJ is very experienced while both Adriaan and Wian have been part of the squad previously.’

Springboks - 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Danie Rossouw, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm and is filed under Springboks, Year End Tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

501. carol Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

#495 grant10: It’s tough in Clifton!!

502. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

#500 carol: yes….horrible job living here…but someones gotta do it…

503. carol Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Grant, John Smit twitters too…just started!!
I could get into this stuff!!

504. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:46 pm

#502 carol: tell him G10 says he must go back to hooker or retire….

Just dont give \him my address…he is bigger than me!

505. Transformation Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

#498 grant10: good, ask him to stop being a foooking liability…that guy has cost us too many penalties!

506. gunther Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

#503 grant10:

I have already told him about you…

507. grant10 Reply to this comment

#504 Transformation: Looking forward to meeting him….really hope Parreira can do the business….are you glad Bennis back??

508. Robzim Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:50 pm

He is not bigger than you. Only fatter.

509. grant10 Reply to this comment

#505 gunther: Bugger…

510. carol Reply to this comment

#501 grant10: My heart bleeds for you…..

As for Smitty he would probably prefer to play hooker – how does he convince PDV tho?

Your address is safe with me,unless they send Percy over to charm it out of me!!
Montyfan saw him (Percy) in Camps Bay today, why is he not over here touring with the team?

511. carol Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:52 pm

#507 Robzim: Hahahahah – Hi Rob, he will need the extra inslulation for touring up here!!

512. grant10 Reply to this comment

#507 Robzim: LOL….well i am still kak scared of him!!!

He gets a version of my comments i am knackered….especially being an ex flyhalf who actually knows diddly squat about the front row!

513. carol Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:53 pm

#508 grant10: Do your ‘Doe Eye’ look, he will be putty!!

514. nama1 Reply to this comment

#459 Hondo:
“His record of try/Test is better than most centres bar Dannie Gerber”

How many tries has Meisiekind scored in his 24 tests, Hondo?

515. Robzim Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:54 pm

#510 carol:

Hi Carol,

I guess Bakkies does not twitter
It sounds a bit ***

516. gunther Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:55 pm

#509 carol:

actually it was his decision to move…

517. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:56 pm

#509 carol: He is on ‘leave’….i will look out for him and Tasmin….hope there stuff sorted.

518. gunther Reply to this comment

#508 grant10:

he will be lookng for a fly half past his prime with a dodgy knee and a disobedient dog and a suck in speedo…

519. charo Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

#507 Robzim:

oi, behave – he is still the bok captain

my wife, daughter and her fiance are leaving tomorrow to see the rest of the family in cpt.
what’s the weather likely to be?
clearing, i hope

520. grant10 Reply to this comment

#512 carol: screw that…i will outrun the fatty over 100m…after that i am in serious trouble….achilles and all!!

521. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 8:59 pm

#517 gunther: speedo with the package enhancer….dodgy achilles…knees in great shape….you got me mixed up with Puma!

522. carol Reply to this comment

#514 Robzim: Went to look for Bakkies and all that came up was some You Tube clips, Bakkies Botha elbows Phil Waugh and Bakkies Botha injures Adam Jones!!! Sort of a theme running there!!

523. carol Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

#515 gunther: Was it?

524. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:01 pm

sipping on Old Brown Sherry….blonde twittering with J Smit…pictures of Boks on plane…cool stuff!

Old Brown is strange stuff….a couple of glasses and warm and fuzzy….yummy!

525. Robzim Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:02 pm

#518 charo:

Hi,

Unfortunately still a lot of rain tomorrow with 100% cloud cover. Then lighter rain on Thursday clearing by Friday.

Just joking about John.

526. carol Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

#516 grant10: Give Percy my love, say Carol from The Cotswolds WILL meet him some day!

Your kneees are in danger with all those steps up and down to the Clifton Beaches!! Boy, that was hard work!!

I have heard a tennis ball is the usual speedo accessory!!

527. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:09 pm

#525 carol: The stairs are a challenge….but does keep me strong….do a half hour walk a day religiously tpo Camps Bay and back….but still struggle with the burning achilles….my son came 2 nd in a major Mountain race….was interviewed and will be on tv again….he is doing really well for someone who is not a pro…

528. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:12 pm

Blonde reckons she is gonna ask PDV to play CJ at 3 permanently….reckons she never seen me so excited before when i heard he was in the squad!!LOL

529. Robzim Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:16 pm

#527 grant10:

I guess if she can convince him to get Botha the Prop back as well it will be the cherry on the cake for u.

Friday will be very tough – I am happy with the Bok team though including the bench.

Is your son doing trial running?

530. Robzim Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:18 pm

#528 Robzim:

trial should read trail

531. charo Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:19 pm

#524 Robzim:

thanks mate.
they will be there for a week so will probably experience 4 seasons in that time.

js…i know you’re joking..but the lad has but on too much bulk for my liking. shudder to think what he will look like 10 years after giving up sport

532. carol Reply to this comment

OK guys, looks like I can leave a message on John Smits twitter, what should I say to him about the France match?

533. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:21 pm

#528 Robzim: Yes Rob…trail running…he really is quite the athlete….i was never into distance running at all….his mom is a determined German Blonde so thats probably the genes…i was all football and rugby….he runs in mountains for 6 bloody hours….

Being a young single 25 year old he does run the risk of having to change running clubs every few monthe….far too popular he is i am afraid…perhaps his mothers genes there as well!!

534. carol Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

#526 grant10: Can you get achilles injuries fixed?
Your son was born to run I would say, he has very long legs!!

Blonde will only see you MORE excited when BJ ‘comes home’ too!!

535. charo Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:23 pm

i hear a lot about bj being our saviour.
can’t for the life of me think why.

bj had a troubled career as a 3 – in s14 and for the boks.
many bloggers, ok mostly bulls, crucified him.
to me, he was adequate, but a little liable to give away penalties.
dodgy binding…a la wikus blaauw

536. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:24 pm

#531 carol: tell him to scrum like a real tighthead…!

No…wish them well from the keo nightowls…#528 Robzim: Rob…yes…i like the team too…and honestly believe the better front row is on the bench…so at least we covered in case of implosion!

537. Robzim Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:25 pm

#530 charo:

I remember seeing a picture of him in a bicycling magazine a while ago – standing next to a MTB dressed up in cycling clothes.

Well, all I can say he is not going to challenge Lance Armstrong on the uphills but coming down he should build up one hell of a momentum.

Anyway, his rugby achievements are just about second to none.

538. charo Reply to this comment

#533 carol:

this is getting out of control now

539. grant10 Reply to this comment

#533 carol: If Bj is selected i will expect a b…..no…too much sherry!!

540. skopskiet Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:27 pm

Waka is right twitter is for twits, when do these rugby players like Victor and John get to still twitter away on Twitter. I doubt WP Nel spends any time twittering away on his Pc. Talking kak on keo is bad enough imagine still twittering away on twitter also. No wonder we get done cv the breakdown. I wonder if Harinorduquy or Chabal spend any time on Twitter too.

541. grant10 Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:28 pm

#534 charo: Ja…CJ too actually…but i still reckon they a better option than the skipper…

I know guys get upset but i reckon old Smitty is the ideal bench player now…can cover all 3 front row spots without being the best in any of them.

542. Robzim Reply to this comment

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November 10th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

#532 grant10:

Lucky guy – I guess if he runs away from them he does not always go flat out

543. carol Reply to this comment

#535 grant10: Bwahahha I’m not going to be rude to him!!

#536 Robzim: Rob, you are on fire tonight….was he in lycra?

#537 charo: Yes see Grant on 538 I may have to get some of this sherry it has a great effect!!