Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named a team featuring 10 changes to the starting XV for their second Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against Australia in Cape Town on Saturday.
Only five players in the starting 15 retained their places from the team’s 38-22 defeat against the Wallabies in Johannesburg last week at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.
The five players who will start against Australia for the second week in a row are Ox Nché, Malcolm Marx, Marco van Staden, Grant Williams, and Jesse Kriel, who takes over the captaincy from the injured Siya Kolisi.
Powerful prop Nché will serve as Kriel’s vice-captain for the first time in his international career, which dates back to 2018 when he made his Springbok debut against Wales in Washington DC.
Four players were ruled out of contention for selection due to injury, namely Kolisi (loose forward), Pieter-Steph du Toit (utility forward), and wings Kurt-Lee Arendse, Edwill van der Merwe.
The only change to Erasmus’ front row was the inclusion of prop Thomas du Toit, who will pack down alongside Nché and Marx, while the Bok coach named a new lock pairing of RG Snyman and Ruan Nortje. Van Staden, meanwhile, will form a loose trio with Franco Mostert and Jean-Luc du Preez.
The backline, in turn, sees the experienced duo of Kriel and Damian de Allende reunite in the midfield for the 38th time, while Grant Williams and Handre Pollard will partner up at halfback, Kolbe and Moodie at wing, and Le Roux – who became only the eighth player in SA rugby history to earn 100 Test caps against Georgia last month – completing the backline at fullback.
Erasmus named six forwards and two backs on the replacements bench, where Marnus van der Merwe, Boan Venter, and Wilco Louw will serve as the impact front row, along with the experienced trio of Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, and Kwagga Smith.
Erasmus attributed the changes to injuries and strategic adjustments for the forthcoming challenge.
“We lost four players to injury last weekend, which obviously had an impact on a few of our selections, but we also know where we went wrong against Australia last week, so we made a few changes that we believe will offer us what we need for this game,” said Erasmus.
Erasmus added: “We are determined to get things right this week.”
The Boks may have enjoyed success against the Wallabies in Cape Town since 1992, where the hosts have won seven out of the eight Tests between the sides, but Erasmus said history was insignificant.
The match kicks off at 17h10 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
Springbok team to face Australia in Cape Town:
15 Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls) – 100 caps, 75 pts (15t)
14 Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls) – 15 caps, 35 pts (7t)
13 Jesse Kriel (captain, Canon Eagles) – 81 caps, 95 points (19t)
12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 89 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath) – 41 caps, 111 points (18t, 3c, 5p)
10 Handre Pollard (Vodacom Bulls) – 82 caps, 797 points (7t, 116c, 168p, 5dg)
9 Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 20 caps, 25 pts (5t)
8 Jean-Luc du Preez (Bordeaux Begles) – 14 caps 10 points (2t)
7 Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 80 caps, 20 points (4t)
6 Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 28 caps, 15 pts (3t)
5 Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 8 caps, 0 pts
4 RG Snyman (Leinster) – 42 caps, 10 points (2t)
3 Thomas du Toit (Bath) – 25 caps, 5 pts (1t)
2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 79 caps, 115 pts (23t)
1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 42 caps, 0 pts
Replacements:
16 Marnus van der Merwe (Scarlets) – 1 cap, 10 points (2t)
17 Boan Venter (Edinburgh) – 2 caps, 5 pts (1t)
18 Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 19 caps, 0 pts
19 Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 134 caps, 35 points (7t)
20 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 68 caps, 25 points (5t)
21 Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 54 caps, 45 points (9t)
22 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers) – 41 caps, 70 pts (14t)
23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 10 caps, 54 points (15c, 8p)
Facts and Stats
Head-to-head v Australia:
Played 96; Won 52; Lost 41; Drawn 3; Points for: 1 945, Points against: 1 710; Tries scored 230, Tries conceded 177; Highest score 61-22 (Pretoria, 1997); Biggest win 45 points (53-8, Johannesburg 2008). Win % 54.2%.
