Smit back to captain South Africa

Hooker John Smit was named last night to lead South Africa in their rugby World Cup quarter-final against Australia on Sunday after he started his team’s final pool match on the bench.

Smit, who replaced Bismarck du Plessis in the starting line-up, barely spent any time on the field in the last game against Samoa after being sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on within minutes of running on. Wingers JP Pietersen and Bryan Habana, both under an injury cloud this week, were named in South Africa’s most experienced team, with a total of 836 caps. The side that played Wales in their World Cup opener had 815 caps.

Lock Bakkies Botha, who had said he was “100 per cent” fit to face the Wallabies after frustrating leg injuries, was not even named on the bench, with the impressive Danie Rossouw retaining his place in the second row alongside Victor Matfield.

The South Africa v Australia clash is the penultimate quarter-final clash, with New Zealand facing Argentina in the last of the four weekend matches. Sonny Bill Williams may have joked about replacing Dan Carter at fly-half, but he was deadly serious in vowing the All Blacks would not abandon their attacking principles in pursuit of World Cup glory. The do-or-die demands of the knockout stages often lead to risk-free rugby, with defences dominating the tournament’s final stages.

Argentina will certainly look to stifle the All Blacks at source on Sunday, but even without the influential presence of Carter in the No 10 jersey, Williams is confident the All Blacks can stick to their principles.

“Hopefully we can still express ourselves out there and play with the freedom that we have been playing with,” said Williams. “We have to acknowledge that this is knockout football. At this stage of the tournament, it’s about getting the mental part right. Every team that faces the All Blacks raises their game and, now it’s the knockouts, they’re going to raise it more.”

South Africa team: P Lambie; JP Pietersen, J Fourie, J de Villiers, B Habana; M Steyn, F du Preez; P Spies, S Burger, H Brussow, V Matfield, D Rossouw,J du Plessis, J Smit (capt), G Steenkamp. Subs: B du Plessis, CJ van der Linde, W Alberts, F Louw, F Hougaard, B James, G Aplon.