All Blacks: Boks bring in own 'Boot' for Hamilton test

Tendai Mtawarira and Johann Muller horse around during a Springboks training session on the Queensland coast. Photo / Getty Images

In a city where "The Boot" was king, the Springboks have drafted in their own siege-gun kicker Francois Steyn for Saturday's test in Hamilton against the All Blacks.

Steyn will be playing his last test before taking up a contract in France, but the selectors hope he can emulate some of the kicking deeds which made Don Clarke, aka The Boot, such a favourite son in the Waikato.

Coach Peter de Villiers said the one change to his side, Steyn in for Ruan Pienaar at fullback, was a strategic choice for the type of game they expected to unfold.

"It's not a shift in game plan - we expect Dan Carter to kick more, and with Frans we can put ourselves back in position and able to dictate play," the coach said.

The Boks had delayed their team announcement to give Bryan Habana more time to recover from the hamstring strain which forced him from the test last week in Brisbane. The wing passed a fitness test and was included in the side which trained before travelling today to the test headquarters.

De Villiers and his selectors have not been swayed into mass changes after the meltdown in Brisbane and have kept alternative players, such as the erratically talented Schalk Burger, on the bench.

Nor has the coach tinkered with the scrum after it was upset, consistently, late in the game by the Wallabies.

There were murmurs that captain John Smit might return to his traditional hooking duties rather than the tighthead role he has filled.

But Bismarck du Plessis is invaluable in the middle of the front row, and Smit brings so much to the side as a leader that the selectors have kept their formation.

The captain has come under increasing inspection this week after he was exposed, technically, as a prop by the dynamic Wallaby loosehead Benn Robinson. Murmurs have it the 31-year-old may be thinking about his international future if his side claim the Tri-Nations trophy this weekend.

Scrum coach Gary Gold and tighthead lock Bakkies Botha have both defended Smit's propping expertise this week and denied suggestions that their scrum has weaknesses.

Smit propped at school and in his early provincial days and was used in that role at French club Clermont.

"I believe there are definitely areas of the Boks' game where they can certainly improve, and scrums is certainly one, but I don't feel that the specific scale of the criticism toward the scrum is based on facts and evidence, which as coaches, is all we can and should be focused on," Gold explained.

"I assume that a lot of the criticism has possibly come from what we all saw in the test in Brisbane, and in the test in Perth when the talented Ben Robinson caught John on the hit in three scrums and was able to get underneath him. And in those scrums, yes, Australia had the upper hand."

If Smit got lower on every scrum engagement, he would cope with any size opponent. He will also get the grunt from the gargantuan Botha in the second row.

"I can't see a prop I'm pushing on not being able to scrum and I back my captain 100 per cent," Botha said this week. "John has come through well, and all he has to do is keep his back straight and he'll go forward with me behind him."

Smit was calm about the calibre of his propping among all the brouhaha either side of the Tasman.

"I'd be naive if I said it was an easy transition to tighthead, but I'm happy with my progress," he revealed.

"In November it will be exactly a year since I moved, and I think you can only judge it next year when my apprenticeship will be over. All I can do is roll with the punches, but I don't believe we've lost any matches because of the scrumming," Smit said.

The Springbok captain accepted the All Blacks would apply the blowtorch to their scrum, but they had been able to quell that when the sides met twice in South Africa early in the series.

And with all the aplomb of an 88-test veteran, Smit calmly mentioned his side's lineout prowess and the fear they generated when they attacked opposition throws.

All Blacks
Mils Muliaina, Joe Rokocoko, Ma'a Nonu, Stephen Donald, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Dan Carter, Jimmy Cowan, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (captain), Jerome Kaino, Isaac Ross, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Andrew Hore, Tony Woodcock.
Reserves: Aled de Malmanche, John Afoa, Adam Thomson, Rodney So'oialo, Brendon Leonard, Isaia Toeava, Cory Jane.

Springboks
Francois Steyn, Odwa Ngungane, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Heinrich Brussow, Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, John Smit (captain), Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira.

Reserves: Chiliboy Ralepelle, Jannie du Plessis, Danie Rossouw, Schalk Burger, Ricky Januarie, Adrian Jacobs, Ruan Pienaar.