De Villiers heaps praise on Springboks

Published on Wednesday 2 September 2009 22:29

PETER de Villiers has praised his South Africa side as they look to seal the Tri-Nations title with victory over Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.

The Springbok coach has made just one change to the starting line-up that destroyed the same opponents in Perth last weekend, bringing in Odwa Ndungane in place of the injured JP Pietersen on the wing.

It means the world champions will go into the game with 624 caps on the field and a further 209 on the bench.

De Villiers said: "We now have nine players in our match 22 who have 50 caps or more. And these are players who have a few more good years of top-class rugby left in them. There are some in this group who are slowly but surely creeping up to the half-century mark and others who are just starting out but have already shown the capacity to go on to greater things. We have a strong, well-balanced squad that is experienced, has great leaders and is playing with confidence and self-belief."

Looking to the match in Brisbane, where the Springboks have not won in six attempts since their reinstatement in 1992, he added: "We have not won the title yet and there are still two tough games to play."