South Africa have made four changes to their starting XV for the Tri-Nations rugby clash with the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday night.
After dropping their opening two games of the series to New Zealand, the Springboks have injected Stormers winger Gio Aplon, Sharks halfback Ruan Pienaar and Sharks openside flanker Ryan Kankowski.
In the other change, interchange prop BJ Botha swaps places with CJ van der Linde in the starting side.
Aplon replaces Jean de Villiers, Piennar slots in for Ricky Januarie while Kankowski displaces Francois Louw following the Springboks’ second straight loss — last weekend’s 31-17 defeat in Wellington.
The All Blacks picked up where they left off from after the 32-12 thrashing in the Tri-Nations opener at Eden Park.
Kiwi critics have panned the 2007 World Cup winners as being off the pace and tired following their opening losses.
The words seemed to be ringing in Springboks coach Peter de Villiers’ ears when quizzed on his changes on Tuesday.
“We have to bring some speed into our team,” he said.
But captain John Smit added: “Tri-Nations is probably the quickest of all the tournaments we play — I wouldn’t say it is catching us by surprise.
The Springboks also have injury dramas with lock Andries Bekker ruled out of the Brisbane clash with a back injury suffered in the 31-17 defeat.
South Africa are already without first choice secondrower Bakkies Botha, who was banned for nine weeks after headbutting New Zealand halfback Jimmy Cowan in the opening round defeat.
South Africa team: Zane Kirchner, Gio Aplon, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Oliver, Bryan Habana, Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Pierre Spies, Ryan Kankowski, Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw, BJ Botha, John Smit (capt), Gurthro Steenkamp. Res: Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Flip van der Merwe, Dewald Potgieter, Francois Hougaard, Butch James, Juan de Jongh.
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