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Habana out of Springboks side

19/08/2008 11:25:32 PM Comments (0)

Springboks star Bryan Habana has been ruled out of South Africa's final two Tri-Nations Tests against Australia with a hamstring tear as the Springboks announced their team for Saturday's clash in Durban.

South African officials confirmed the reigning world player of the year had sustained a grade one tear to his hamstring which will sideline him for at least 10 days, meaning he will miss Saturday's ABSA Stadium match and almost certainly the game seven days later in Johannesburg.

Speedster Habana limped off during the second half of last Saturday's 19-0 loss to New Zealand at Newlands and Cheetahs winger Jongi Nokwe has returned to the squad as his replacement.

The loss is a major setback for the Boks, who have already lost skipper John Smit and towering lock Bakkies Botha for the remainder of the series.

Forward Danie Rossouw was also not considered because of a back injury.

Coach Peter de Villiers has resisted calls for mass changes to his forward pack but has signalled his side will look to play an attacking game by picking exciting fullback Conrad Jantjes ahead of veteran Percy Montgomery.

"The All Blacks have some great tactical kickers so in a sense we had to slow the game down last week," de Villiers was quoted as saying by South African rugby website keo.co.za.

"The Aussies don't have great tactical kickers and we have to speed things up. That's why we've gone with Jantjes."

De Villiers has also stuck with halfback Fourie du Preez ahead of Ricky Januarie despite his playmakers failing to fire against the All Blacks, who held the Boks scoreless at home for the first time.

"I think Fourie does have a yard or two on Ricky. Other than that, I don't think there's much difference between the two," de Villiers said.

Wallabies winger Peter Hynes expressed disappointment he'll miss out on marking Habana.

"You never hope a player's injured," Hynes said.

"He'd be great to play against. He's a fantastic player, one of the best players obviously getting around as a winger."

Meanwhile, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is expecting a bit of the old and a bit of the new after de Villiers admitted his side was struggling with his new, more expansive game plan.

"I'm kind of caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, but we can't back off now," de Villiers said.

"We're at 60 per cent of where we want to be so we have to bite the bullet and see if we can get there.

"In playing total rugby, there is going to be a fear factor."

But Deans downplayed any confusion in the Springboks camp after their 19-0 loss to New Zealand last Saturday.

"(We'll get) a bit of both I think," he said.

"They'll see us as a different proposition than the All Blacks and they'll identify some things that they think will work for them.

"I've got no idea what they are but they will have some plans for sure."

South Africa (15-1): Conrad Jantjes, JP Pietersen, Adrian Jacobs, Jean de Villiers, Jongi Nokwe, Butch James, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, Andries Bekker, CJ van der Linde, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira. Res: Adriaan Strauss, Brian Mujati, Joe van Niekerk, Luke Watson, Ricky Januarie, Frans Steyn, Percy Montgomery.

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