South Africa recall top rugby players

By Ken Borland

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa coach Peter de Villiers recalled three top players on Thursday for Saturday's second test between the world champions and Wales in Pretoria.

Lock Victor Matfield, named the most valuable player of the 2007 World Cup, scrumhalf Enrico Januarie and tighthead prop BJ Botha return to the starting lineup. They are joined by Zimbabwe-born debutant Tendai Mtawarira, the Natal Sharks loosehead prop.

The Sharks duo of loose forward Ryan Kankowski, who enjoyed an outstanding Super 14 series, and utility back Francois Steyn have been named on the bench.

"We're expecting Wales to come out blasting because I'm sure they would have worked on their shortcomings from the first test," de Villiers told a news conference.

"So I'm bringing the big guns on to the field and we want to build to where we want to be for the Tri-nations."

Matfield, 31,who has won 68 caps, replaces Andries Bekker, who made his debut in last weekend's 43-17 victory over Wales in Bloemfontein. Januarie returns for Bolla Conradie after serving a one-match suspension for off-field indiscipline.

De Villiers and captain John Smit said scrummaging had been the one area the Springboks had worked hard on in the last week, with Botha and Mtawarira replacing last week's debutant Brian Mujati and Gurthro Steenkamp.

"I want to be clear about what we have in the front row before we go overseas and we put more emphasis on scrumming this week, after working hard on the lineouts last week," De Villiers said.