Eben Etzebeth returns as injuries force Boks in two changes for Pumas

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has named his team to take on Argentina on Saturday in round five of the Rugby Championship at Durban’s Kings Park, making two changes from the XV that hammered the All Blacks.

After leaving the field injured in the first half of the 43-10 win in New Zealand, Lood de Jager and Aphelele Fassi miss out on the visit from Felipe Contepomi’s side, with Eben Etzebeth returning to the second-row.

Centre Damian de Allende will take Fassi’s place in the team, with Damian Willemse shifting to full-back following his heroics against Scott Robertson’s side.

Following their record victory over the All Blacks in round four of the Championship in Wellington, the Boks, currently sitting in second place, are back in the hunt to defend their title. In order to do so, they need to close a two point gap on Australia across their two matches against the Pumas, while the Wallabies face two matches against the All Blacks.

Fixture

Rugby Championship

South Africa

67 - 30

Full-time

Argentina

All Stats and Data

Erasmus has made a further two changes to a bench that blew the All Blacks away, with Boan Venter coming in as replacement loosehead. After propping last match, Jan-Hendrik Wessels will instead operate as a substitute hooker this week, with Marnus van der Merwe dropping out of the team.

The second change comes among the backs, with Morne van den Berg replacing Grant Williams as the back-up scrum-half in a 5-3 split on the bench, though Andre Esterhuizen will continue to operate as a utility back/forward.

“We were very pleased with the way the team rose to the challenge against the All Blacks in Wellington, and looking at the Pumas team and their strengths, we believe this would be the best team for this specific match,” said Erasmus.

“The make-up of this team not only allows us consistency in selection, but we’ll also have the vast experience of Eben and Damian de Allende in the starting team, who are excited to get back on the field again.

“On the bench, Jan-Hendrik covers prop and hooker equally efficiently, so Boan gets another chance along with Morne.”

Springboks XV
15 Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 43 caps, 66 points (6t, 9c, 4p, 2dg)
14 Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath) – 44 caps, 121 points (20t, 3c, 5p)
13 Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls) – 18 caps, 40 pts (8t)
12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 91 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 Ethan Hooker (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 3 caps, 0 points
10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 13 caps, 58 points (17c, 8p)
9 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers) – 44 caps, 75 pts (15t)
8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 37 caps, 10 points (2t)
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 91 caps, 60 pts (12t)
6 Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 96 caps, 65 points (13t)
5 Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 11 caps, 0 pts
4 Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 136 caps, 35 points (7t)
3 Thomas du Toit (Bath) – 28 caps, 5 pts (1t)
2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 82 caps, 120 pts (24t)
1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 45 caps, 0 pts

Replacements
16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 7 caps, 10 pts (2t)
17 Boan Venter (Edinburgh) – 4 caps, 5 pts (1t)
18 Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 22 caps, 0 pts
19 RG Snyman (Leinster) – 44 caps, 15 points (3t)
20 Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 57 caps, 55 points (11t)
21 Morne van den Berg (Lions) – 3 caps, 10 points (2t)
22 Manie Libbok (Kintetsu Liners) – 22 caps, 128 pts (1t, 42c, 13p)
23 Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 23 caps, 10 pts (2t)