Januarie dropped in crackdown by new-look South Africa
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Your support makes all the difference.Percy Montgomery and Victor Matfield, two of the outstanding performers in South Africa's defeat of England in the World Cup final, have been relegated to the bench for the Test against Wales in Bloemfontein tomorrow.
In addition, scrum-half Ricky Januarie has been dropped for disciplinary reasons. "We have an ethical code which all the players are expected to follow and he did not," the head coach, Peter de Villiers, said. De Villiers refused to give further details. Stormers team-mate Bolla Conradie takes over during Januarie's one-match ban.
De Villiers, the successor to Jake White, has also omitted the brilliant young centre Francois Steyn. Conrad Jantjes is preferred to Montgomery at full-back, Andries Bekker is given a debut in the second row and Adrian Jacobs appears at centre.
There is another debutant in the prop Brian Mujati and he and the wing Tonderai Chavhanga were born in Zimbabwe. The exceptionally good news for the Springboks is that Pierre Spies, the fastest No 8 ever to lace up a pair of boots, has recovered from a lung disease that knocked him out of the World Cup. Butch James, following a successful spell at Bath, returns at stand-off which means that out of sight in the Republic is not necessarily out of mind.
The Cardiff prop Gethin Jenkins will make his 59th appearance for his country, making him Wales's most capped front-rower. The record had been held by the hooker Garin Jenkins. Gethin's first tour was to South Africa, in 2002. "I was taken along for the experience and didn't play a game," he said. "I was 21, pretty fat and didn't know much about training or professionalism ."
The England Saxons include five senior internationals for their opening match against the United States in Ottawa tomorrow evening. England, defending the Barclays Churchill Cup which they won at Twickenham last year, have Ollie Smith and Anthony Allen at centre, Paul Hodgson at scrum-half, George Chuter at hooker and Chris Jones in the back row.
It is the selection of the back three, though, that is the most intriguing. Ben Foden, who started life as a scrum-half but often found himself on the Sale wing, makes his Saxons' debut at full-back and the wings are the 6ft 7in Matt Banahan, who has opened a few eyes with his exploits at Bath this season, and the 5ft 9in Tom Biggs. Biggs came into the squad for Tom Varndell after the Leicester flier was promoted to the full England cause in New Zealand.
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