John Smit will lead the Springboks against Australia on Sunday. Photo / Getty Images
South Africa lock Bakkies Botha may be out of the Rugby World Cup after failing to make the squad for Sunday's quarterfinal against Australia.
Coach Peter de Villiers announced three changes Thursday to the starting lineup that held off Samoa in the Springboks' last pool match but Botha's anticipated return from a hamstring injury was thwarted by a recurrence of an earlier Achilles problem in training.
"It might mean that his tournament will be over,'' De Villiers said. "We nursed his hamstring but he came down badly and his Achilles went up again. It's just one of those accidents you get. He had not very good support when he came down and it was about 7 tons of weight on it.''
De Villiers said Botha may not be fit to play again even if the defending champion Springboks progress.
The veteran Botha missed South Africa's opener against Wales and the Samoa match, appearing only against Namibia and Fiji at this World Cup.
His 2007 World Cup-winning secondrow partner Victor Matfield will again play alongside Danie Rossouw in Wellington.
Elsewhere, captain John Smit returns at hooker to push Bismark du Plessis to the bench, and Jean de Villiers takes his favored inside center role in place of the injured Frans Steyn, who has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament.
De Villiers called up Gurthro Steenkamp for Tendai Mtawarira but denied their was any problem with his giant prop.
"There's nothing wrong with Tendai,'' De Villiers said. "There's only space for 22 players'' in the squad.
South Africa:
1. Gurthro Steenkamp
2. John Smit (c)
3. Jannie du Plessis
4. Danie Rossouw
5. Victor Matfield
6. Heinrich Brüssow
7. Schalk Burger
8. Pierre Spies
9. Fourie du Preez
10. Morne Steyn
11. Bryan Habana
12. Jean de Villiers
13. Jaque Fourie
14. JP Pietersen
15. Pat Lambie
Replacements
16. Bismarck du Plessis
17. CJ van der Linde
18. Willem Alberts
19. Francois Louw
20. Francois Hougaard
21. Butch James
22. Gio Aplon
- AP
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