Springboks bring back Lion tamers for Pumas test
South Africa have rung the changes for Saturday’s second test against Argentina.
The starting team contains 11 players who missed last week’s 32-12 win against the same opponents – six in the backline and five in the pack – while the bench also contains numerous new faces.
With coach Jacques Nienaber recalling a host of players who featured in the recent series win over the British & Irish Lions, only lock Lood De Jager, flanker Siya Kolisi, no.8 Jasper Wiese and scrum half Cobus Reinach retain their starting places.
Reinach is part of the same backline that contested the final Test against the British & Irish Lions two weeks ago. This sees Handré Pollard back at fly half, Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am return to the midfield while the back three consists of Makazole Mapimpi, Cheslin Kolbe and Willie le Roux.
Second row Marvin Orie earns a first Test start following five previous appearances off the bench.
Hooker Malcolm Marx and prop Trevor Nyakane have been promoted to the starting front row where they are joined by Thomas du Toit who makes his first test start of the season.
In the back row Franco Mostert steps in for Kwagga Smith, who moves to the bench in place of the injured Marco van Staden.
The replacements bench features a six-two split of forwards with the uncapped Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg joined by Janse van Rensburg plus front rowers Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe all of whom had a break last weekend.
The two backs on the bench are scrum half Jaden Hendrikse – who scored a try on debut last weekend – and Damian Willemse.
Nienaber said the changes are driven by a combination of factors.
“A few players didn’t play last week after a physically demanding Lions Series and are now back in the mix, while we also wanted to give a few players who have worked hard at training over the last two months a chance to get some valuable game time,” he said.
Quite a storm building…https://t.co/mrc4ZKyKnc
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 17, 2021
“This is a long season, so we need to get the balance right between building consistency in selection and in our performances, managing the players in terms of their workload, and building depth within our squad.”
Nienaber said he expects the Pumas to come out firing this week.
“Argentina will come hard at us, so we know we need to perform much better than last week to get the desired result,” he said.
“While we were pleased with the victory and to start our Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign on a winning note, there was a lot of room for improvement in our performance.
“We’ve identified a few areas we need to work on if we want to defend our title successfully, and we will work on those aspects of our game at training this week.
“Argentina plays with a lot of passion, much like we do, so they’ll want to show their fighting spirit, which will set the scene for another challenging Test match between us.”
With a debate currently raging in Australia regarding ‘Giteau’s Law’ and the selection of foreign-based players the presence of ten overseas Springboks in this line-up is sure to prompt interest.
COVID-19 strikes again…https://t.co/3E6wbAMUEQ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 17, 2021
Springbok team to face Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium:
15 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 65 caps, 60 pts (12t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Toulouse) – 17 caps, 45 pts (9t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 18 caps, 20 pts (4t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Munster) – 50 caps, 30 pts (6t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 17 caps, 75 pts (15t)
10 – Handré Pollard (vice-captain, Montpellier) – 52 caps, 502 pts (6t, 80c, 100p, 4d)
9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 17 caps, 40pts (8t)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 4 caps, 0 pts
7 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 43 caps, 5pts (1t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 55 caps, 30 pts (6t)
5 – Lood de Jager (Sale Sharks) – 49 caps, 25 pts (5t)
4 – Marvin Orie (DHL Stormers) – 5 caps, 0 pts
3 – Thomas du Toit (Cell C Sharks, 12 caps, 0 pts)
2 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 38 caps, 30 pts (6t)
1 – Trevor Nyakane (Vodacom Bulls) – 47 caps, 5 pts (1t)
Replacements:
16 – Bongi Mbonambi (DHL Stormers) – 40 caps, 40 pts (8t)
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 51 caps, 5pts (1t)
18 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 42 caps, 5pts (1t)
19 – Nicolaas van Rensburg (Montpellier) – uncapped
20 – Kwagga Smith (Yamaha Júbilo) – 11 caps, 5 pts (1t)
21 – Dan du Preez (Sale Sharks) – 5 caps, 0 pts
22 – Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks) – 1 cap, 5 pts (1t)
23 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 11 caps, 5pts (1t)
Comments on RugbyPass
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
22 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
22 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
22 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
22 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to comments