Victor Matfield to skipper South Africa for third-place play-off against Argentina
Thursday 29 October 2015 13:56, UK
The Springboks have made two changes to the starting line-up that lost to New Zealand in the semi-finals.
Scrum-half Fourie du Preez is the only regular missing because of facial injuries sustained in the 20-18 semi-final loss to New Zealand.
Ruan Pienaar replaces Du Preez, and 38-year-old Victor Matfield starts in place of Lood de Jager for the 127th and final Test of his career. Matfield takes over the captaincy from Du Preez, whose Test career has now come to a close.
The rest of the team is unchanged from the one that started the defeat to the All Blacks, despite Springboks coach Meyer saying after the semi-final that the match officially called the Bronze Final "does not mean anything to me".
However, announcing the team on Wednesday, Meyer said: "This is a critical match for us and we owe it to ourselves and our supporters to end the season on a high note.
"I considered fielding a much-changed team and weighed the pros and cons, but ultimately decided the team that has grown together over the past few weeks was the one with the best chance of delivering victory for our supporters."
Fly-half Pat Lambie will reach 50 Test caps for South Africa if he comes off the bench.
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar; 1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 6 Francois Louw, 7 Schalk Burger, 8 Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Jannie du Plessis, 19 Lodewyk de Jager, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.
