Springbok Muller withdraws from Tri-Nations opener

South Africa's team for the Tri-Nations opener against Australia on Saturday has been further weakened by the withdrawal of lock Johann Muller on Thursday.

The 23-test forward is suffering from a hamstring injury and will be replaced by Alistair Hargreaves, who has played twice for his country. Ryan Kankowski replaces Hargreaves on the bench.

The Springboks left 21 frontline players back in South Africa because of injury and will give debuts to three players with another uncapped player on the bench.

Revised team: 15-Gio Aplon; 14-Bjorn Basson, 13-Juan de Jongh, 12-Wynand Olivier, 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Morne Steyn, 9-Ruan Pienaar, 8-Ashley Johnson, 7-Danie Rossouw, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Alistair Hargreaves, 4-Flip van der Merwe, 3-Werner Kruger, 2-John Smit, 1-Dean Greyling.

Replacements: 16-Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17-CJ van der Linde, 18-Ryan Kankowski, 19-Jean Deysel, 20-Charl McLeod, 21-Adrian Jacobs, 22-Patrick Lambie.