Springboks change 10 of their XV, make bomb squad a 5/3 split

Rassie Erasmus has made 10 changes to his Springboks XV for this Saturday’s Rugby Championship round two rematch with Australia in Perth. South Africa blew away the Wallabies in last weekend’s opening-round encounter, comfortably winning 33-7 in Brisbane and installing themselves as favourites to win the title for the first time since 2019 as the All Blacks were beaten at home by Argentina in the day’s other game.

Erasmus has now changed four of his starting backs and six of his pack as they look to build on the five tries to one win where they were 21-0 ahead at the interval. These changes includes first starts for Morne van den Berg at scrum-half and Ruan Nortje and lock. He has also reconfigured the bomb squad, opting to go with just five forwards rather than six on the bench this weekend.

A statement read: “Morne van den Berg (scrum-half) and Ruan Nortje (lock) will earn their first Test starts in a Springbok team that shows 10 changes to the starting line-up for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash with the Wallabies at the Optus Stadium in Perth on Saturday.

Duane Vermeulen explains his new ‘coaching role’ with the Springboks

Duane Vermeulen explains his new ‘coaching role’ with the Springboks

“Salmaan Moerat will captain the team from lock while regular captain Siya Kolisi is one of numerous players from Saturday’s 33-7 victory who is rotated. Marco van Staden (loose forward) is promoted from the bench to take Kolisi’s No6 jersey, while the only players retaining starting places are Cheslin Kolbe (wing), Jesse Kriel (centre), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (fly-half), Elrigh Louw (No8) and Pieter-Steph du Toit, who moves from lock to flanker.

“Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Thomas du Toit (both props) and Johan Grobbelaar (hooker) are back in the starting team as the front row after lining up against Portugal in the historic Test in Bloemfontein last month.

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“Five other players who were members of that emphatic 64-21 victory also join them in van den Berg, Aphelele Fassi (full-back), Lukhanyo Am (inside centre), Makazole Mapimpi (wing) and Manie Libbok (fly-half), with the latter starting on the replacements bench showing a traditional split of five forwards and three backs.

“Erasmus opted to rest Kolisi (flanker), Frans Malherbe (prop), Bongi Mbonambi (hooker), Cobus Reinach (scrum-half), Kurt-Lee Arendse (wing), Damian de Allende (centre) and Willie le Roux (full-back), while Ox Nche and Eben Etzebeth are named on the bench.

“Ben-Jason Dixon, who started at flanker last week, meanwhile is nursing a niggle, which has placed him on the rehabilitation list along with RG Snyman, who has been ruled out of contention for selection as he continues to manage the foot niggle that saw Erasmus being forced to make late changes his match-23 last week.”

Erasmus said: “We made it clear from the outset this season that one of our main goals is to build squad depth with an eye on the next Rugby World Cup here in Australia, and we feel there is no better way to test some of the younger players and assess where we are as a group against a top-tier nation, especially away from home, in this match.

“We have a group of about 45 players that are part of our wider squad this season and we have seen what most of these players can do. We have full faith in the younger generation of players coming through, and we feel this is the right time to Test them against an Australian outfit that will be desperate to bounce back strongly from last weekend.

“All of the younger players made a strong impression against Portugal and in the other Tests in which they received an opportunity to showcase their skills, and we believe that their hunger to play, combined with their individual skills will be a fantastic driving force for them to build on the result in Brisbane.

“We have a big squad, and it’s important to balance some players’ workload while at the same time bringing a few young players into the mix, and this squad allows us to do both. This also means that every player in this travelling squad will have an opportunity to play. All of the players who have been excluded from the squad have been regulars this season and we feel we will benefit in different ways by resting them this week.”

Springboks (vs Australia, Saturday):
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 5 caps, 10 points (2t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 34 caps, 96 points (15t, 3c, 5p)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 72 caps, 80 points (16t)
12 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 36 caps, 35 pts (7t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 43 caps, 150 points (30t)
10 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 5 caps, 25 points (11c, 1p)
9 – Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions) – 1 cap, O points
8 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 5 caps, 0 points
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 80 caps, 45 points (9t)
6 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 21 caps, 0 pts
5 – Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 0 points
4 – Salmaan Moerat (captain, DHL Stormers) – 8 caps, 0 points
3 – Thomas du Toit (Bath) – 19 caps, 0 pts
2 – Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 0 points
1 – Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 5 points (1t)

Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 68 caps, 85 points (17t)
17 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 32 caps, 0 pts
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 53 caps, 0 points
19 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 123 caps, 30 points (6t)
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 44 caps, 40 pts (8t)
21 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 12 caps, 10 points (2t)
22 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 15 caps, 91 pts (1t, 28c, 10p)
23 – Handré Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 72 caps, 732 points (7t, 98c, 162p, 5dg)