Springbok coach Peter de Villiers stuck with his penchant for springing surprises when he named Morgan Newman at outside centre for Friday night's warm-up match between a South Africa XV and a Namibian XV in Windhoek.
It is not so much that Newman is in the starting team for this only warm-up fixture for the coming series against the British and Irish Lions that is so surprising. Although he hardly played for the Stormers in the last Vodacom Super 14 season, and spent the bulk of the competition either in the Western Province Vodacom Cup side or on the Stormers bench, Newman is a talented player who some feel has a big future.
The shock though was the number that he will wear on his back for this game. When he has played there at senior level, such as in a Currie Cup match for WP last year, Newman looked anything but comfortable. He is more in the mould of a creative centre who should be in the playmaking position rather than a devastating finisher or pacy attacker on the outside.
These days the numbers on the centres backs is becoming less important. For instance, Jean de Villiers spends as much time standing outside Gcobani Bobo at the Stormers as he does inside his midfield teammate. But the man in the No 12 jersey for Windhoek, Meyer Bosman, is an out and out inside centre, one of those quite capable of playing flyhalf if asked to (it is of course where he made his international debut during the Jake White era).
The selection of Bosman and Newman may seem dubious, but the logic of playing them in this game might not be flawed. It is pointless for Newman to be called up to the squad, and not get a chance to show what he can do in a match situation, a fate that befell Ishmael Dollie, the controversial flyhalf selection in De Villiers's first squad of 2008.
As for Bosman, his inclusion in the squad, something that was announced on Sunday, could prove a master-stroke, particularly if first choice No 12 continues to battle injury. It is no secret that the Lions will employ the Welsh rush defence system in the three test series, and Bosman is a gifted field kicker who could combine with the flyhalf in showing up the big weakness in this defensive system by putting through well placed chips and grubbers.
Bosman, although he has not been used in the role for a while by the Cheetahs, is also a dab goalkicker when entrusted with the responsibility. Morne Steyn is staking a strong claim for the Bok No 10 jersey, but De Villiers may prefer to stick with his original choice, Ruan Pienaar, in which case a back-up goalkicker will be vital.
In this game there are actually going to be three goalkickers on the South African side. Earl Rose gets a chance to play fullback, but expect him to be replaced by JP Pietersen, included on the bench, at the halfway stage of the match. Like Pietersen, it is going to be interesting to see how Rose deals with the field kicking expertise of Derick Hougaard, who is down to play for the Namibian team.
A glance through the team suggests that this game is not really being used as an opportunity for combinations to gel and get reacquainted with one another, as De Villiers suggested earlier in the week, but a chance for the fringe players to show what they can do.
In some instances the team is helped by having well established provincial combinations playing together, such as a full Sharks front-row, with skipper John Smit playing from tighthead, and the WP pair of Ricky Januarie and Peter Grant combining at halfback.
The three uncapped players in the starting team are Rose, Nemwan and the impressive Sharks loose forward Jean Deysel. With Schalk Burger still injured, it will be interesting to see how Heinrich Brussow combines with Deysel on the side of the scrum.
There more uncapped players were selected on the bench in Cheetahs prop Wian du Preez, Sharks lock Steven Sykes and Lions scrumhalf Jano Vermaak.
"We know what we have in our established players and want to use this match as an opportunity to see what the new players offer and also give them an opportunity to show what they can do at another level," said De Villiers.
SA XV team is: 15. Earl Rose, 14. Jongi Nokwe, 13. Morgan Newman, 12. Meyer Bosman, 11. Odwa Ndungane, 10. Peter Grant, 9. Ricky Januarie, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Heinrich Brüssow, 5. Andries Bekker, 4. Johann Muller, 3. John Smit (captain), 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira.
Bench: 16. Adriaan Strauss, 17. Wian du Preez, 18. Steven Sykes, 19. Juan Smith, 20. Schalk Burger, 21. Jano Vermaak, 22. Jean de Villiers, 23. Adi Jacobs, 24. JP Pietersen[/b]
, he has only played about 2 or 3 Super Rugby games and he is in the SA training squad... :huh: , he probably is a talented player (I mean he plays for the Stormers 
