Rugby | De Villiers back to captain Springboks

Jean de Villiers returned to captain South Africa for its Rugby Championship opener against Argentina this weekend while youngsters Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende and Lood de Jager were all given a start by coach Heyneke Meyer.
De Villiers will captain from inside center after missing the June tests against Wales and Scotland through injury, meaning De Allende will make his test debut in the unfamiliar outside center position. De Allende has made his Super Rugby appearances at No. 12 or wing but was picked by Meyer on Wednesday to start against Argentina after also missing the mid-
year tests with injury.
Young flyhalf Pollard was at No. 10 for his second test in a swift ascension to the senior team after leading South Africa Under-20s to the Junior World Cup final in June. The 20-year-old Pollard was preferred by Meyer over 56-test veteran Morne Steyn, who was put on the bench.
Lock De Jager was the third young player to get his chance, and replaced veteran Victor Matfield in the second row. Matfield was ruled out against Argentina at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday with a knee problem. Veteran lock Bakkies Botha will start alongside De Jager.
The Springboks also have prop Tendai Mtawarira and flanker Willem Alberts back in the starting lineup after they missed the victory over Scotland at the end of June. Lock Eben Etzebeth won a place on the bench having not played this year because of injury. AP