Rassie Erasmus names 4 Bok debutants to play Wales, including two 20-year-olds

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has made 10 changes to his starting XV for their clash with Wales this Saturday in Durban from the one that defeated Scotland 42-28 in round two of the Nations Championship.

Four of the changes to the XV will be debutants – Jaco Williams, Vusi Moyo, Ruben van Heerden and Carlu Sadie.

The 20-year-old Moyo will become the third fly-half in three games for the Boks, and will be joined by fellow 20-year-old Williams in the backline. The Sharks pair will make their debuts at their home ground at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.

The five players to retain their starting berth are captain Pieter-Steph du Toit, fellow flanker Paul de Villiers, lock Cobus Wiese, centre Jesse Kriel and full-back Aphelele Fassi.

Manie Libbok will provide back-up for Moyo on the bench, as one of three backs in a 5-3 split alongside scrum-half Herschel Jantjies and Damian Willemse.

Fixture

Nations Championship

South Africa

08:40

18 Jul 26

Wales

All Stats and Data

“They all played very well for their franchises this season, and have been working extremely hard at training, while waiting patiently for a chance to play, so we are delighted for them,” Erasmus said when discussing the debutants.

“Building squad depth has always been one of our pillars since 2018, and to have such an exciting group of players coming through is fantastic as we continue to build our squad for the future.

“We have full faith in their abilities, and I’m sure the senior guys around them will assist in keeping them calm on the field, so they can show the talent that earned them a place in the squad. Hopefully, we can make it a memorable occasion for them and our loyal supporters this weekend.”

Springboks XV: 15 Aphelele Fassi (Toshiba); 14 Jaco Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), 12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Mitsubishi Dynaboars); 10 Vusi Moyo (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 9 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers); 1 Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls), 2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), 3 Carlu Sadie (Bordeaux Bègles), 4 Cobus Wiese (Vodacom Bulls), 5 Ruben van Heerden (Montpellier), 6 Paul de Villiers (DHL Stormers), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz, captain), 8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks)
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers), 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls), 18 Wilco Louw (DHL Stormers), 19 Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers), 20 Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls), 21 Herschel Jantjies (Bayonne), 22 Manie Libbok (Kintetsu Liners), 23 Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers)