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South Africa v British & Irish Lions, Pretoria
Burger bolsters Springboks
Scrum.com
June 23, 2009
Schalk Burger returns to the South Africa back-row for the second Test
© Getty Images
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South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has named the side that he hopes will secure the Test series against the British & Irish Lions in Pretoria on Saturday, with openside flanker Schalk Burger walking straight back in to the side after missing Saturday's nail-biting 26-21 win at Kings Park due to a calf injury. Burger replaces the unfortunate Heinrich Brussow, who was a constant menace to the tourists at the breakdown, completing an otherwise unchanged back-row alongside Pierre Spies and Juan Smuith. Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha are retained in the second-row, with skipper John Smit, hooker Bismarck du Plessis and Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira looking to inflict yet more damage on the Lions' pack from the front-row. The backline is unchanged, with Ruan Pienaar and Fourie du Preez pulling the strings from halfback and Francois Steyn retaining his place after impressing from fullback in Durban. The only other changes to the side come on the bench, where Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle replaces prop Gurthro Steenkamp and scrum-half Ricky Januarie is replaced by Brussow. "We believe in the abilities of our players and we are confident that they will take things up a few notches on Saturday," said de Villiers. "We are a squad of 22 focused on a common objective, which is to go out and win a Test Series against a very good Lions team. "We know that we will be faced by a Lions team that will be playing to level the Test Series and will provide us with a stern test. We must make sure that we are more than equal to the task." Springbok coach Gary Gold defended the choice of bring Burger straight back in to the starting XV, saying that his experience would be a boost to the side. "Schalk has obviously been with the squad for the entire duration since we went to Namibia," said Gold. "He's been on quite a strenuous rehab programme and has been coming along really well. He would have been first choice for selection last week, but the medical staff felt that he was a couple of days short. "So they just gave him the best the chance possible to recover and he's just taking up his spot now. We feel he's ready to now go. Schalk's fantastic attributes is that he closes down the inside very well and he understands defence very well. So it's nice to be able to rely on a guy who has 49 Test caps to help us out." South Africa: Francois Steyn; JP Pietersen, Adi Jacobs, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana; Ruan Pienaar, Fourie du Preez; Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, John Smit, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger, Juan Smith, Pierre Spies Replacements: Chiliboy Ralepelle, Deon Carstens, Andries Bekker, Danie Rossouw, Heinrich Brüssow, Jaque Fourie, Morné Steyn © Scrum.com
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