Rugby
De Villiers released by Boks─── 09:18 Mon, 13 Jul 2015
The Springboks will be arriving in Brisbane today ahead of their Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies.
The 31-man squads departed for down-under yesterday with 22 of its members having done duty with for the men in green-and-gold during Saturday match against the World XV.
The only member of the match-day squad to stay behind in South Africa is regular captain, Jean de Villiers, who has been released to Western Province to get game time in their Currie Cup warm-up matches over the next two weeks.
Coach Heyneke Meyer has hinted at the side being changed for the first Test of the season due to the Rugby Championship being a shortened version this year.
"I would like to give as many of our squad members as possible game time in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup, so there will be changes against the Wallabies.
"We’ll re-assess the minor bumps and bruises when we get to Brisbane on Monday.
"It’s a short week so the guys will have to find their rhythm quickly before we play what promises to be a very tough and intense Test match against Australia.
The players who did not feature against the World XV, have travelled to Brisbane, are Lionel Mapoe, Lwazi Mvovo, Rudy Paige, Jan Serfontein, Morné Steyn, Schalk Brits, Lood de Jager, Frans Malherbe and Heinke van der Merwe.
Saturday’s test at the Suncorp Stadium kicks off at 12:05, with the Springboks tackling the All Blacks next weekend at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
Morgan Piek / OFM News
