Joubert to play as Britz returns for South Africa

Marius Joubert has overcome worries about his shoulder injury to claim his place against Australia, while Gerrie Britz returns for Albert van den Berg.

Jake White played down concerns about his impressive centre Marius Joubert saying in typically forthright terms, “He is in the team, so he will play”.

White makes just one change to the team, with the previously injured Gerrie Britz returning to take his place at the expense of Albert van den Berg. Consistency of selection is one of White’s main themes, so it was no surprise when he announced to the assembled media, “”I said from the beginning that I will change the team as little as possible. My aim is still to change the team as little as possible.”
After the near miss against the All Blacks, White is anxious that his team learns to produce that level of performance on a regular basis, as opposd to the one-offs that they have produced over the past few seasons.

The Boks have been buoyed by the match being played in Perth, home to a large number of expatriate South Africans. It is also a ground on which they have never lost to Australia, though they did lose to England there in last year’s Rugby World Cup.

South Africa:
15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Marius Joubert, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Jean de Villiers, 10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Jacques Cronji, 7 AJ Venter, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Gerrie Britz, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Eddie Andrews, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements: 16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Joe van Niekerk, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Gaffie du Toit, 22 Brent Russell.