Peter de Villiers has explained that the changes he made for this Saturday’s clash with Australia were planned well in advance.
The Springboks made history by defeating the All Blacks in Dunedin last weekend but South Africa’s new coach has made four changes for the trip to Perth.
Two of those changes were enforced, with hooker Bismarck du Plessis suspended and centre Adrian Jacobs injured, but de Villiers has decided to leave out full back Percy Montgomery and No8 Joe van Niekerk in favour of Conrad Jantes and Pierre Spies respectively.
"This was always our plan against Australia and it’s exactly the team we had in mind," De Villiers told Supersport.
"Pierre Spies was always going to play against Australia because he’s the right kind of guy for them, he’s a very different player to Joe.
"Leaving Percy out was a very difficult decision to make because he played very well in the second test in New Zealand, but Conrad had a very good first game."
On the bench, de Villiers named five forwards, with Sharks back row Ryan Kankowski likely to make an impact at some stage in proceedings.
“With Ryan we had the opportunity to freshen up the bench a bit.
"We had to consider a tough, long flight over here and how much the guys have left in their legs. But it’s a horses-for-courses selection.
"Australia played their typical rugby against France. They went through their phases – keeping the ball for 12 or 14 phases – and they wear you down. And they have brilliant execution so it will be very tough."
South Africa (vs Australia, Saturday, July 19, kick off 11.05am BST)
15. Conrad Jantjes
14. JP Pietersen
13. Francois Steyn
12. Jean de Villiers
11. Bryan Habana
10. Butch James
9. Enrico Januarie
8. Pierre Spies
7. Juan Smith
6. Schalk Burger
5. Victor Matfield (c)
4. Bakkies Botha
3. CJ van der Linde
2. Schalk Britsv
1. Gurthro Steenkamp
Replacements
16. Adriaan Strauss
17. Tendai Mtawarira
18. Brian Mujati
19. Andries Bekker
20. Ryan Kankowski
21. Ruan Pienaar
22. Peter Grant
Supporters can watch the Springboks continue their build up to the 2009 Lions tour live on Sky Sports on Saturday morning.
