Injuries to some players have hampered Springbok coach Peter de Villiers‘ plans to name an unchanged team for Saturday’s Tri-Nations clash against Australia.

While there was an expectation that some players may have been rested for the Boks’ final game, De Villiers resisted tinkering with the team, and was keen to ensure the momentum was kept from the victory at Loftus Versfeld last week.

Two players who went for scans necessitated the move, with Butch James ruled out of action after popping his shoulder while Flip van der Merwe’s neck strain was sufficient enough to let Danie Rossouw back into the starting line-up for the weekend’s game.

De Villiers was consistent in the Van der Merwe move as he started Flip two weeks ago against the All Blacks when Rossouw had a niggling injury.

Van der Merwe has been given extra time to rest, but has been cleared for the game.

“Butch will not be part of the Tri-Nations any further. He popped his shoulder and has been ruled out. The other guys have been cleared and will be part of the squad.”

De Villiers told SuperSport.com afterwards that James will head to Pretoria next week to consult a specialist, where the extent of the injury will be ascertained. Until then he didn’t want to make a guess on how long James would be out.

Gio Aplon comes in on the bench in James’s place which leaves Francois Steyn to cover flyhalf in case Morne Steyn gets injured this weekend.

Aplon joins Stormers teammates Juan de Jongh and Ricky Januarie on the bench.

De Villiers admitted the injury to Van der Merwe was a factor in the selection of Rossouw, but was thankful he could call on both players.

“That is one of the challenges of being a coach. You have to give and take to have the right players for your game plan. But what a privilege it is to have two players of this caliber at your disposal,” De Villiers said.

The team is:

Francois Steyn; JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana; Morne Steyn, Francois Hougaard; Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger; Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw; Jannie du Plessis, John Smit (capt), Gurthro Steenkamp
Reserves:Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Flip van der Merwe, Ryan Kankowski, Ricky Januarie, Juan de Jongh, Gio Aplon.

Source: supersport.co.za