Habana fractured a bone in his left hand during morning practice and will return to South Africa shortly. His place in Saturday’s team is taken by Lwazi Mvovo – who is promoted from the bench – while the experienced Adi Jacobs joins the replacements.
Habana suffered the injury during a defensive drill when he fell awkwardly on his hand after tackling Morne Steyn. The injury reduces the tour squad to 27 players. An announcement on replacements will be issued in due course.
Apart from the change at left wing, Bok coach Peter de Villiers on Tuesday made three changes to the Springbok starting XV and one positional switch for Saturday’s Test against Scotland at Murrayfield in Edinburgh.
Zane Kirchner, Francois Hougaard and Ryan Kankowski were all promoted to the starting line up while Gio Aplon moves from fullback to wing from the team that defeated Wales 29-25 in Cardiff on Saturday.
In addition hooker Adriaan Strauss and Mvovo are involved in a match-day 22 for the first time on tour, with Strauss included on the bench.
Bjorn Basson’s injury and subsequent suspension made him unavailable for the right wing position and his place is taken by Gio Aplon, who moves from fullback. Aplon’s No 15 jersey is taken by Zane Kirchner who moves up from the bench.
Francois Hougaard is given the starting position at scrumhalf after his cameo performance from the bench on Saturday, while Ryan Kankowski comes straight into the starting XV at eighthman.
“We’ve got a talented squad and a long tour like this gives us an opportunity to try out a few options,” said Peter de Villiers.
“Francois Hougaard played well for us in the Vodacom Tri-Nations and did well when he came on on Saturday and brings a different style.
“Ryan is one of two talented eighthmen in the squad and we wanted to give him an opportunity to show us what he can do.”
The changes on the bench are caused by the departures of Basson and Chiliboy Ralepelle, who returned a positive test for a banned stimulant following the Test against Ireland on November 6.
De Villiers added that the squad had now put the shock of the positive results behind them.
“There is a process in place in these cases and that is now being followed. As a squad we have moved on and are focusing only on Scotland.”
South Africa v Scotland
Murrayfield, Edinburgh, November 20 2010
| |
Name | Province | Age | Caps |
| 15 | Zane Kirchner | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 26 | 12 |
| 14 | Gio Aplon | Vodacom Western Province | 28 | 11 |
| 13 | Frans Steyn | Racing Metro | 23 | 40 |
| 12 | Jean de Villiers | Vodacom Western Province | 29 | 65 |
| 11 | Lwazi Mvovo | The Sharks | 24 | 0 |
| 10 | Morne Steyn | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 26 | 23 |
| 9 | Francois Hougaard | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 22 | 6 |
| 8 | Ryan Kankowski | The Sharks | 25 | 16 |
| 7 | Juan Smith | Vodacom Cheetahs | 29 | 67 |
| 6 | Deon Stegmann | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 24 | 2 |
| 5 | Victor Matfield (captain) | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 33 | 103 |
| 4 | Bakkies Botha | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 31 | 70 |
| 3 | Jannie du Plessis | The Sharks | 28 | 22 |
| 2 | Bismarck du Plessis | The Sharks | 26 | 34 |
| 1 | Tendai Mtawarira | The Sharks | 25 | 24 |
| REPLACEMENTS | ||||
| 16 | Adriaan Strauss | Vodacom Cheetahs | 24 | 7 |
| 17 | CJ van der Linde | Vodacom Cheetahs | 30 | 67 |
| 18 | Flip van der Merwe | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 25 | 8 |
| 19 | Willem Alberts | The Sharks | 26 | 1 |
| 20 | Ruan Pienaar | Ulster, N Ireland | 26 | 45 |
| 21 | Patrick Lambie | The Sharks | 20 | 2 |
| 22 | Adi Jacobs | The Sharks | 30 | 30 |
