Thursday September 6, 2012
Vermeulen to make debut for Springboks
PERTH: South African number eight Duane Vermeulen will make his Test debut in Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with Australia in Perth after being named in the Springbok side yesterday.
Under-fire coach Heyneke Meyer has brought in three new players and made two positional changes to the side that were held to a 16-16 draw in Argentina in their last outing In the southern hemisphere’s new international competition.
In addition to the powerful Vermeulen, Meyer has named Ruan Pienaar at scrumhalf, while Juandre Kruger replaces the dropped Andries Bekker at lock.
Pacy back Francois Hougaard goes out to the wing to allow Pienaar to start at halfback, while Willem Alberts moves to flanker to make room for Vermeulen at the back of the scrum.
“We’ve decided to put Duane straight into the starting team because he is a classic number eight, a position we’ve lacked in since Pierre Spies got injured and Ryan Kankowski moved to Japan,” Meyer said.
“I’ve always admired the way Duane plays rugby and he’s fitted in very well the past week. He would’ve been a Springbok years ago if it had not been for injuries and it’s great to finally see him selected.” — Reuters
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