Springboks pay tribute to White

South Africa v Wales:After the intensity of the World Cup, the staging of a friendly international match this weekend with no real competitive purpose seems questionable in the extreme, apart, from the lucrative financial point of view.

It must surely be asked whether anyone really cares whether South Africa adds a Welsh scalp to their belt at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday, or whether they capitulate to an underperforming Welsh team.

Warren Gatland, the newly-minted Welsh coach has had no hand in selecting the Wales team, with Nigel Davies in as caretaker coach, while World Cup-winning South African coach Jake White will depart from the Springboks in December when his contract expires.

Notable absentees from the World Cup-winning squad include fullback and main kicker Percy Montgomery, halfbacks Butch James and Fourie Du Preez, lock Victor Matfield and number eight Danie Rossouw.

Doubtlessly there will be peripheral interest in how the one-time "unfit" Gavin Henson takes the first steps towards rehabilitating his international career in a Welsh side that has seven changes from the one that lost to Fiji seven weeks ago. But cameos aside the outcome should not change the thinking of where each team resides in world rugby opinion.

Springbok winger Bryan Habana, one of the players that electrified the proceedings in France, will be there and he has led the tributes to the departing White.

"He has taken us on an unbelievable journey. Jake brought us back from the depths of despair in 2003 and put a few traditions back into place," the winger said.

"He has left the Springbok team in a better state than he received it. One of the most important things Jake brought back was the ethics," he pointedly added.

Evidently too much ethics for the South Africa Rugby Football Union (SARFU), which is why this World Cup coach is on his way just three months after winning the most coveted trophy in international rugby.

Captain John Smit added his voice in saying that he hopes Saturday's game will be a "celebration" of White's achievements. The frontrow player, who has been released by his new club Clermont Auvergne to lead the Springboks challenge, added: "It has been an incredibly enjoyable four years.

"From the start, we really felt he was bringing structure and an ability for us to turn things around and take the Springboks to where they belong. It is a sad moment now, having come to the end of the road.

"The repayment was being able to fulfil the expectation he had himself and the expectation he put on us in terms of being able to win the World Cup this year. This game, hopefully, will be a celebration of what Jake has given to South Africa for the last four years."

The soon to be unemployed coach has been linked to coaching roles with Wales and England, but won't be rushed into decisions about his future and will probably take a six-month break after South Africa face the Barbarians at Twickenham on Saturday week - without English Premiership and Irish province players involvement.

"It is quite an interesting Wales team - it is quite a bold team," observed White.

"There is a lot of talk about (James) Hook and (Gavin) Henson playing together in midfield, and it will be interesting to see how that combines. The talk is that Wales are going to have a full go at getting some width going, and it will be a challenge to us."

Smit leads a team that contains just one new cap, Natal Sharks number eight Ryan Kankowski and will be joined by fellow World Cup final starters JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Francois Steyn, CJ Van Der Linde, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger and Juan Smith.

(At the Millennium Stadium on Saturday. KO 2.45)

SOUTH AFRICA: Ruan Pienaar; JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie, Francois Steyn, Bryan Habana; Andre Pretorius, Ricky Januarie; CJ van der Linde, John Smit (capt), Jannie Du Plessis, Bakkies Botha, Johann Muller, Schalk Burger, Juan Smith, Ryan Kankowski.

Replacements: Bismarck du Plessis, Heinke van der Merwe, Albert van den Berg, Hilton Lobberts, Wynand Olivier, Conrad Jantjes, Akona Ndungane.