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Springboks change 14 for Portugal with 7 debutants
By Josh Raisey
South Africa have made 14 changes to their starting XV to face Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday from the one that lost to Ireland.
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Three members of Rassie Erasmus’ starting XV are set to make their debuts- loosehead prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels, hooker Johan Grobbelaar and flanker Phepsi Buthelezi.
A further four more could make their deubts from the bench- hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, flanker Ruan Venter, scrumhalf Morne van den Berg and fullback Quan Horn.
Winger Kurt-Lee Arendse is the sole survivor from the 25-24 loss to Andy Farrell’s side in Durban.
Locks Salmaan Moerat and RG Snyman are the two other members from the 1-1 series with Ireland in the starting XV. The pair had previously been part of the Bomb Squad.
Stormers lock Moerat will lead the Springboks for the first time in his career.
For the third consecutive match, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will take his place on the bench, which on this occasion has a 5-3 split.
“Portugal are a quality team as we saw with their victory against Fiji in the RWC, while they also drew their clash against Georgia 18-18,” said Erasmus.
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“It was important for us to select a quality team with a bunch of experienced players, while at the same time delivering on our objective of growing our squad depth by naming a few debutants.”
South Africa XV
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 4 caps, 10 points (2t)
14 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 17 caps, 70 points (14t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 35 caps, 30 pts (6t)
12 – Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 17 caps, 0 pts
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 42 caps, 135 points (27t)
10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 14 caps, 87 pts (1t, 26c, 10p)
9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 32 caps, 65 pts (13t)
8 – Evan Roos (DHL Stormers) – 6 caps, 0 points
7 – Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers) – 1 cap, 0 points
6 – Phepsi Buthelezi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – uncapped
5 – RG Snyman (Leinster) – 36 caps, 10 points (2t)
4 – Salmaan Moerat (captain, DHL Stormers) – 6 caps, 0 points
3 – Thomas du Toit (Bath) – 18 caps, 0 pts
2 – Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls) – uncapped
1 – Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – uncapped
Replacements
16 – Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers) – uncapped
17 – Ntuthuko Mchunu (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 2 caps, 0 points
18 – Trevor Nyakane (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 67 caps, 5 pts (1t)
19 – Ruan Venter (Emirates Lions) – uncapped
20 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 0 points
21 – Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions) – uncapped
22 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 3 caps, 7 points (2c, 1p)
23 – Quan Horn (Emirates Lions) – uncapped
Seven uncapped, no respect…
No respect? That’s a bit harsh. Sure, the Boks don’t respect Portugal the way they respect Tier1 teams.
But if they had “no respect” for Portugal, they’d offer you a South Africa XV in a friendly.
The best way to respond, I think, would be by beating them and earning the respect you believe they owe you. It’s a long shot, but not unrealistic.
The team Portugal will face is jelly green, without any cohesion. It’s a team, that might look much stronger than Portugal on paper, but in reality it’s a team, that’s never played together.
I think it’s going to be a much closer game than most would imagine.
Which might be Rassie’s plan: to put Springbok hopefuls under the stress of a “must not fail” situation, and see what they’re made of. Because if they lose, they’ll never shake off the mark of shame. The Brighton miracle will be forgotten, replaced by the Port Elizabeth Crumble.
Portugal will be targeting this one, 100%. It should be an absolute belter. Two ball-running teams. Can’t wait.
I don’t think so. This game would have been setup precisely as a friendly to allow the boks to prepare for the RC. I’m sure Portugal knew that coming in.
Great that SA are rewarding Portugal for their success in the world cup. Ireland played them a couple of times in the warmup for RWC 2023, England a few months ago and now SA. Great oportunity for SA to go all out expansive attack against a team that will let them play.
Any thoughts on the double croc roll on Marx by Caelin and then James Ryan?
Well England didn't really play Portugal - it was very much b-team versus b-team
It would be good to play Portugal more often though. It might be fun for one of the home nations to play a 3 match series against them next summer. Perhaps one team could take Portugal and another could take Georgia.
Balls to the wall sweeping change. Almost disrespectful.
It will be a huge freefall down the World Rugby rankings for the Boks, should the Portuguese manage to eke out a sensational Brighton-like miraculous win, or a draw.
Rassie certainly lit a fire under certain bottoms here. Fassi, Libbok, Roos, just to name a few. Some on their second chance, some on their last.
At the same time, this is a 100% attack-minded Springbok team with Reinach, Libbok, Fassi, Mapimpi. Esterhuizen to punch holes in the defensive line, the high flyers to exploit those. The supercomputer brain of Am to make sure there is some defensive structure in the otherwise gung-ho backline. Given the characteristics of Portugal, this should be an absolute ball-running feast and a try-fest.
For this Sharks fan, to see the Esterhuizen-Am combo reunite and start together puts a little tear of joy and nostalgia in my tired old world-weary eyes. Also, Buthelezi geting his long overdue debut.
There was always going to be sweeping changes made for this test against Portugal. Rassie indicated that this team knew who they were prior to the Ireland game. So no one should feel disrespected.
1. This game is an opportunity to bring in a few debutants. This marks 11 altogether this year (I suspected there’d be between 10 and 15 between the Wales and Portugal tests).
2. The core team that will take on Aus and the ABs would have needed a rest from what was a brutal Irish series.
3. This game is about combinations too. Like you say, the Esterhuisen Am combination. The front rows. Reinach Libbok.
4. These players would have been helping prep the boys against Ireland - so I’m sure they must be quite eager to see them use what they’ve been exposed to in a relatively low risk game. Portugal will be a good test.
We’ll see a few more sweeping changes for the autumn series I’m sure.
But in the main I suspect this game is mostly about playing for a spot in the RC squad. And of course building depth for the long term.
Phepsi Buthelezi is going to be an interesting one. Whether he’s good enough to compete with the likes of Hanekom who seems destined for a spot himself. I think Phepsi’s form this year has been great.
I was disappointed that Siya Masuku didn’t get a shot. But that’s because I think the Reinach Libbok combination is being given a run. Pollard and Faf didn’t delight against Ireland.
I think we’ll see Sacha come on at 10/12 - see how he really does playing the utility role. I’m keen to see what he does at 10.