Chiliboy Ralapelle will once again lead his country in a tour match, three years after his Springbok captaincy debut - doing so in the same city.

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers confirmed at the weekend that the Blue Bulls hooker, who became the first black player to captain South Africa when he was in charge when they beat a star-studded World XV 32-7 at Walkers Stadium in Leicester in December 2006, will lead the Boks in their two midweek matches on their 2009 year-end tour to Europe.

The 23-year-old hooker, who was also the youngest to lead the national team at age 20 back in 2006, will be in charge against Leicester next Friday (November 6) and Saracens (November 17).

Ralepelle, with just eight Test caps between his debut against New Zealand in August 2006 and his last Test against New Zealand in September this year, has had his career severely curtailed by injury.

His only start in a Test match has been in the 9-28 loss in the third encounter with the British and Irish Lions in Johannesburg this year.

Ralepelle is one of three hookers picked in De Villiers's squad, along with rookie teammate Bandise Maku and Sharks No.2 Bismarck du Plessis.

De Villiers is adamant that Ralepelle, who has been unable to play for over a month as a result of a foot injury, will be fit to lead the team against the Tigers at a sold-out Welford Road to officially open the new Caterpillar Stand.

The Bok coach is using the two midweek games to allow fringe players and a few newcomers to push for more regular places and increase the depth in strength of the national team ahead of the 2011 World Cup.

"Everybody will get game time on the tour," De Villiers said of the 37-man touring party.

"This is their [fringe players] opportunity to push for Test selection," he added.

De Villiers was not prepared to speculate, other that to say that he won't tinker too much with the Test team's starting XV.

However, along the way he dropped a few hints.

Earl Rose will play fullback on tour, most likely in the midweek games. The wings could be the Bok duo of Odwa Ndungane and Jongi Nokwe.

The midfield combination could be the most exciting aspect of the team, with Wynand Olivier and Juan de Jongh likely to be given a chance - considering that De Villiers has made no secret of his fondness for Adi Jacobs and have used him regularly at inside centre in the Test team.

Meyer Bosman could be a midfield or flyhalf option, but Ruan Pienaar is most likely to get a run in the No.10 jersey, as De Villiers still sees him as a flyhalf.

Heini Adams is likely to get a start at scrumhalf, with Francois Hougaard and Bosman's utility tags making them ideal candidates for the bench.

Riaan Viljoen is likely to be the other backline replacement.

The game will give De Villiers the first chance to Test his theory that Heinke van der Merwe could be successfully converted from loosehead prop to tighthead - where John Smit and Jannie du Plessis are the Test team players.

Ralepelle will obviously start and hooker, with Bandise Maku on the bench.

Gurthro Steenkamp will add a solid look on the loosehead side of the dirt-tracker front row.

The locks are likely to be newcomer Alistair Hargreaves and Bok regular Andries Bekker - a combination that has plenty of skill, but may lack a bit of grunt.

The grunt will most likely come from the front row and a loose forward group that include Ashley Johnson, Ryan Kankowski, Dewald Potgieter and Davon Raubenheimer.