South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer confident Elton Jantjies will take his chance against England
South Africa head coach Heyneke Meyer is confident Elton Jantjies will take his chance against England.
Last Updated: 21/11/12 12:47pm
The 22-year-old fly-half has displaced Morne Steyn on the Springboks bench and is likely to step into the fray at some stage despite his tender years and relative inexperience.
South Africa head for Twickenham on the back of a 21-10 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield in which Patrick Lambie continued in the No 10 shirt - but Meyer will have no qualms about sending on Jantjies.
He said: "The plan was always to give Elton a run on the tour. He's shown earlier in the season that he can play Test rugby.
"It's also good for his development as a player to experience the conditions here and to play in front of a big crowd like Twickenham."
Meyer also hailed captain Jean de Villiers, as the centre prepares to become the fifth most-capped Bok of all time by leading the side out in his 84th Test match.
"I'm very chuffed for Jean," said Meyer. "He took over the captaincy in a challenging year and has been a rock in our team. The fact that Jean has played in every Test this season, and finished all of them, is testimony to his amazing resilience and work ethic.
"Jean has been the glue that has kept our team together and for that I salute him."