South Africa play down drug excuse as they focus on England challenge

South Africa's players are refusing to blame drug-related distractions for their defeat to Scotland last weekend but accept they will be playing for their reputations against England at Twickenham on Saturday in the final Test of a difficult year for the Springboks and their embattled coach Peter de Villiers. The visitors' starting XV announced today contains only two changes from the team beaten 21-17 at Murrayfield, with the experienced Pierre Spies and Ulster's Ruan Pienaar returning at No8 and scrum-half, respectively. In the wake of the positive drug tests recorded this month by two squad members, Bjorn Basson and Chiliboy Ralepelle, there is, however, a clear desire to produce a strong performance which would ease the pressure on management and players. Jean de Villiers, the former Munster centre now with Western Province, also insisted there was no link between the Scotland loss and the decision to bar the squad from using their normal energy drinks and supplements, pending an investigation into how traces of the prohibited stimulant methylhexaneamine turned up in samples given by Basson and Ralepelle. "I don't think you can blame the supplements," De Villiers said, adding that he prefers not to use them anyway. "You're asking the wrong person because I don't take any. For me it was just a normal week." De Villiers did acknowledge, though, that the Springboks' morale needs boosting. "A lot of pride has been lost in the last couple of weeks and it's up to us to turn it around. There are not a lot of Tests left before the World Cup and there's the bigger picture of getting a squad together for that tournament. Last week was obviously not easy for us. Losing the two guys and then Brian Habana getting injured ... a lot did go wrong, but that's rugby. It definitely wasn't the reason for us losing last weekend. It was a bad performance by a team that should never have been in that position. Ten minutes into the game we were 6-0 up and it could have been 12-0. From there it just went pear-shaped." His coaching namesake is also hoping for a markedly better performance but is wary of the forecast for increasingly wintry weather. The Springboks have felt compelled to alter their training arrangements because of the threat of snow in the London area on Thursday, although there was one item of good news when the prop Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira was deemed fit enough to be named in the team after missing training early in the week with a knee strain. "A good win will definitely boost our hopes," said Peter De Villiers, whose side have lost six of their 13 Tests this year. "We can use this game as a yardstick, put a marker down and enjoy Christmas. But England are now a force again. It's good for world rugby if England are strong but it's a hell of a worrying factor for us, especially with the World Cup so close, that they are now gelling as a team. Pressure? There's always pressure. Take this job and see how grey you become in five weeks." South Africa (v England, 2.30pm Saturday): Z Kirchner (Blue Bulls); G Aplon (Western Province), F Steyn (Racing Métro), J de Villiers (Western Province), L Mvovo (Sharks); M Steyn (Blue Bulls), R Pienaar (Ulster); T Mtawarira (Sharks), B du Plessis (Sharks), J du Plessis (Sharks), B Botha (Blue Bulls), V Matfield (Blue Bulls, capt), D Stegmann (Blue Bulls), J Smith (Cheetahs), P Spies (Blue Bulls). Replacements: A Strauss (Cheetahs), CJ van der Linde (Cheetahs), F van der Merwe (Blue Bulls), W Alberts (Sharks), F Hougaard (Blue Bulls), P Lambie (Sharks), A Jacobs (Sharks).