Lauret handed France debut

France will give a debut to Biarritz forward Wenceslas Lauret when they take on South Africa at Newlands on Saturday.

Flanker to start against Springboks at Newlands

France will give a debut to Biarritz forward Wenceslas Lauret when they take on South Africa at Newlands on Saturday. Coach Marc Lievremont has opted to start with the 21-year-old ahead of Louis Picamoles, who has been benched after a disappointing Six Nations campaign. "Wenceslas is very young but also a good footballer and a good defender," Lievremont said. "He has impressed in training and we expect a lot from him. "The Springboks build their rugby around their back row... so we wanted a more balanced back row with runners as well as tacklers," he said. "I was expecting a bit more from Louis during the season, which is why I'm starting with him on the bench and using him as an impact player.

Injuries

"He's still young and we're expecting him to react positively to this non-selection by raising his game. "We have a number of injuries so this is not the best team but it's an opportunity for the new players." Lievremont said he expected the Springboks to improve on their 34-31 win over Wales last week despite the absence of talismanic scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, who is sidelined with a season-ending shoulder injury. "I'm sure they're going to be better, fresher and a bit more aggressive than they were against Wales," he said. "We cant deny that Du Preez has had a great impact on the South African game but its not really our concern that he's not playing." Peter de Villiers has sprung a surprise by including Ricky Januarie ahead of Ruan Pienaar in a full-strength South Africa team. The Springbok coach also found a place in his XV for Gio Aplon and Francois Louw - who played their first internationals against Wales last week - while the try-scoring debutant in Cardiff, Juan de Jongh, is amongst the substitutes. Beside him is uncapped lock Flip van der Merwe, who has enjoyed a dramatic rise over the past six months, and centre Jean de Villiers, who withdrew from the Welsh Test due to an injured shoulder. Explaining his decision to pick Januarie, de Villier said: "How blessed we are to have so many good options available to us. "He made Juan de Jongh's try by delaying his pass, he put Danie (Rossouw) into the hole in the build-up to Dewald Potgieter's try. "He made 11 tackles - the second most of all our players and he made a crucial turnover in front of our goal line. "I don't know if you want him to be perfect, but we are very happy with him." South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (Captain), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Dewald Potgieter, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Jean de Villiers. France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Aurelien Rougerie, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Thomas Domingo.
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jean Baptiste Poux, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 David Skrela, 22 Marc Andreu.