On 6 November 2010, the Springboks will have the honour of being the first Test team to play Ireland at their new home of Aviva Stadium. Because of the historic significance of this match, the Boks have already agreed to wear their change strip to allow Ireland to wear their regular green. (Normally, the home team changes in case of a colour clash.)The match will be the opener of their first attempted Grand Slam tour since 2004, with the Ireland match followed by encounters with Wales, Scotland and England. The Boks will follow up the tour with a match against the Barbarians.
The Boks began their 2010 Test campaign on 5 June, defeating Wales 34-31 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Controversy arose prior to the game as Bath-based Butch James was withdrawn from the team at the last minute due to the refusal of Premier Rugby, which runs England's Guinness Premiership, to grant James permission on the grounds that the match fell outside the IRB-recognised June Test window. The victory over Wales was achieved without some of the regular Springbok stalwarts such as Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger, Pierre Spies, Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen.
Afer defeating Wales, the Springboks headed back to Cape Town to play against France on the 12 June for their second international in 2010, which they won 42-17. The Springbok victory over the French was their first since 2005. Victor Matfield believes the victory will give the Springboks a psychological advantage over the French as they may meet in the knock out stages of the Rugby World Cup 2011. The crushing victory over the French was achieved through five tries with Pier Spies , Guthro Steenkamp , and Francois Louw each scoring one try and Gio Aplon, the 75kg wing, scoring two tries. Their final preparations for the 2010 Trinations tournament includes two internationals against Italy.
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