Springbok captain Gary Teichmann has been dropped from South Africa's squad for Tri-Nations matches against New Zealand and Australia next month and been replaced as captain by Joost van der Westhuizen for the defending champions' World Cup campaign.
Teichmann, the 32-year-old number eight, was among 11 players dropped from the 29-man squad which lost three successive tests in June and July. A 29-19 defeat by Wales was followed by record defeats by New Zealand (28-0) and Australia (32-6). Scrum-half Van der Westhuizen, fit again after injury, leads the 26man squad named in Cape Town yesterday.
"It was a decision we believe was unavoidable," said coach Nick Mallett. "The captain of the Springbok team has to be an automatic selection in his position and looking at our best possible loose forward combination at present we do not feel that Gary is an automatic first choice."
Teichmann's place has gone to 22-year-old Bobby Skinstad who returns from injury to take his place in the squad."
"Gary is upset," said Mallett, "it's been a dream of his to go to this World Cup and it's a decision I have not enjoyed making."
Mallett recalled three veterans to the squad - World Cup winning forwards Chris Rossouw and Ruben Kruger and centre Brendan Venter, who made the last of his 14 test appearances three years ago.
Former All Black prop Craig Dowd was named in the New Zealand squad to travel to South Africa for the August 8th, TriNations clash in Pretoria.
Dowd, a first-choice prop in the All Blacks until last year, has struggled to get back in the team this season both because of injury and the good form of his successor, Carl Hoeft. However, Hoeft struggled off the field with a calf injury during the All Blacks' 34-15 victory over Australia over the weekend, and faces a lay-off for several weeks just as Dowd has got over ankle and back problems.
SOUTH AFRICA: Fleck, H Honiball, D Kayser, P Montgomery, B Paulse, P Rossouw, A Snyman, W Swanepoel, S Terblanche, J van der Westhuizen (capt), B Venter. Forwards - S Boome, N Drotske, O du Randt, R Erasmus, A Garvey, R Kruger, O le Roux, K Otto, C Rossouw, B Skinstad, A van den Berg, A Bventer, C Visagie, A Vos.
NEW ZEALAND: Backs - P Alatini, T Brown, C Cullen, D Gibson, A Ieremia, B Kelleher, J Lomu, J Marshall, A Mehrtens, C Spencer, T Umaga, J Wilson. Forwards - A Blowers, R Brooke, C Dowd, G Feek, M Hammett, J Kronfeld, N Maxwell, K Meeuws, D Mika, A Oliver, T Randell (capt), G Slater, R Thorne, R Willis.
