South Africa v Wales: Teams

South Africa's new coach Peter de Villiers has confirmed that scrum-half Ricky Januarie was axed from the squad to face Wales in Bloemfontein on Saturday because of disciplinary reasons.

Although de Villiers has refused to go into the nature of the offence he did confirm that the in-form No.9 would sit out one match as punishment.

"One member of the team has broken the team protocol," de Villiers said.

"We have a professional ethical code which all the players are expected to follow and he did not do that.

"As a result, he has been suspended from the team for one match. He will not leave the squad, and will still form part of our plans, but he was not considered for this weekend's match."

Januarie's place in the side goes to Stormers team-mate Bolla Conradie, while de Villiers has also axed World Cup winners Percy Montgomery, Victor Matfield and Frans Steyn from his starting XV.

Montgomery and Matfield make the bench after arriving late from their club commitments, while Steyn is dropped completely.

Conrad Jantjes starts at full-back, while Andries Bekker makes his debut at lock and Adrian Jacobs returns to partner Jean de Villiers in midfield.

Challenge

Mark Jones may have been handed the task of shackling South Africa dangerman Bryan Habana on Saturday however the Wales wing is relishing the challenge.

While Habana grabbed the headlines for his race against a cheetah - as well as his try-scoring record - Jones has been getting into shape by racing an animal of his own.

The 28-year-old said: "There was a tortoise in the garden, and I had a couple of runs against him and took him quite comfortably - so I'm feeling confident!

"Habana has the mantle as the man who raced a cheetah, and that's hard to beat."

All joking aside, Jones knows that he is in for a tough afternoon's work in Bloemfontein against the IRB player of the year.

The Llanelli Scarlet said: "In modern-day sport, you want to come up against the best in the world

"Habana's certainly up there at the moment. He's had a fantastic season and is on top of his game, so it's a huge challenge

"He's got raw pace - there's no doubt about that - but he's developed his all-round game as well.

"His reading of when the intercept pass is on is uncanny. Many of his tries for South Africa and the Blue Bulls come from intercepts.

"You have to be wary of that. He doesn't do it all the time; he just mixes up his defence very well."

Despite missing the likes of Martyn Williams, Gavin Henson and Mike Phillips, Wales have still named a strong line-up to tackle the World Cup winners.

Significantly Stephen Jones gets the nod at fly-half ahead of James Hook, while Gareth Cooper starts at No.9 - with new cap Warren Fury on the bench.

South Africa: 15 C Jantjes, 14 T Chavhanga, 13 A Jacobs, 12 J de Villiers, 11 B Habana, 10 B James, 9 B Conradie, 1 G Steenkamp, 2 J Smit (capt), 3 B Mujati, 4 B Botha, 5 A Bekker, 6 L Watson, 7 J Smith, 8 P Spies.
Replacements: 16 CJ van der Linde, 17 B du Plessis, 18 D Rossouw, 19 R Pienaar, 20 P Grant, 21 P Montgomery, 22 V Matfield

Wales: 15 J Roberts (Cardiff), 14 M Jones (Llanelli), 13 T Shanklin (Cardiff), 12 S Parker (Ospreys), 11 S Williams (Ospreys), 10 S Jones (Llanelli), 9 G Cooper (Gloucester), 1 G Jenkins (Cardiff), 2 M Rees (Llanelli), 3 A Jones (Ospreys), 4 I Gough (Ospreys), 5 A-W Jones (Ospreys), 6 J Thomas (Ospreys), 7 D Jones (Llanelli), 8 R Jones (Ospreys, capt).
Replacements: 16 Duncan Jones (Ospreys), 17 R Hibbard (Ospreys), 18 I Evans (Ospreys), 19 G Delve (Gloucester), 20 W Fury (London Irish), 21 J Hook (Ospreys), 22 M Stoddart (Llanelli)