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Springboks make 14 changes and include two new caps to start
Jacques Nienaber has made 14 changes to his Springboks side for Saturday’s second Test against Wales in Bloemfontein, lock Eben Etzebeth the only player to keep his starting place after South Africa left it late to break Welsh hearts last Saturday in Pretoria. Damian Willemse kicked a late match-winning penalty for that 32-29 win in a match that the visitors led 18-3 at half-time.
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Wales went on to fight to the finish despite four yellow cards and that resistance has now been followed by Nienaber deciding to massively shake things up for the round two collision where he will be hoping his revamped Springboks can put the three-game series to bed with a match to spare.
The much-changed Springboks includes two uncapped players to start, right wing Kurt-Lee Arendse and No8 Evan Roos, while four more players – Ntuthuko Mchunu (prop), Ruan Nortje (lock), Deon Fourie (utility forward) and Grant Williams (scrum-half) – could debut from the bench.
A Springboks media release read: “Four players in the match 23 retained their places in the squad from last week’s 32-29 victory in the opening Test against Wales, namely experienced lock Eben Etzebeth, who will earn his 99th cap for South Africa on Saturday, while hooker Malcolm Marx, prop Vincent Koch and utility back Damian Willemse have been included on the bench.
“Furthermore, experienced fly-half Handre Pollard, who returns to the squad after not featuring in the first Test, will take over the captaincy from Siya Kolisi this week. Nienaber has again opted for a split of six forwards and two backs on the bench, with Willemse’s versatility seeing him able to cover fly-half, centre and full-back while Williams, who has been waiting in the wings at scrum-half, provides cover for his provincial teammate Jaden Hendrikse.”
Nienaber explained: “We said from the outset that we needed to strike a balance between giving our talented young players an opportunity to show what they can do at international level and winning. If one looks at the balance between players who have played at this level and those who have performed consistently well for their franchises and clubs, we have a nice balance in this squad.
“A number of these players have been with us for a few seasons while others travelled with us last season to Australia for the Rugby Championship and the year-end tour and then there are a few new faces who showed during the season that they have the potential to rise to this level of the game, so we are excited to see what they can do on Saturday.
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“Wales showed last week that they are fighters and can go for the full 80 minutes and we are expecting nothing different from them this week. This will certainly be a good test for the younger players in the group to measure themselves against some of the best players in Wales, some of whom played for the British and Irish Lions, so everyone knows they will be in for a proper Test on Saturday.
“We are delighted to see these players get an opportunity at this level and I believe if they play to their potential, they will bolster our depth going forward. They are all very excited at the prospect of wearing the green and gold, but they also know what Wales will bring on the day and that every opportunity will be important.
“Handre is one of our most experienced players and has been part of our core leadership group for a number of years now, I’m sure he will slot into the role with ease,” continued the Springboks coach on handing Pollard the captaincy. “Wales will certainly gain confidence from their performance last week and I have no doubt they will feel aggrieved by the fact that they lost out so narrowly, so we know we have to produce a top-class performance to win this weekend.
“The set-pieces are going to be a key area once again and we have identified the areas that we need to improve on and have already started working on those facets of the game. They are a team that keeps going until the final whistle, so we expect them to push us to the limit, but we know what our standards are as a team, and every player knows what is expected of him.”
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SPRINGBOKS (vs Wales, Saturday)
15. Warrick Gelant (Racing 92) 9 caps, 15 pts (3t)
14. Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – uncapped
13. Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 51 caps, 60 pts (12t)
12. Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins) 8 caps, 0 pts
11. Aphelele Fassi (Cell C Sharks) 2 caps, 10 pts (2t)
10. Handre Pollard (captain – Leicester) 60 caps, 601 pts (6t, 83c, 131p, 4d)
9. Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks) 2 caps, 5 pts (1t)
8. Evan Roos (DHL Stormers) – uncapped
7. Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) 58 caps, 25 pts (5t)
6. Marcell Coetzee (Vodacom Bulls) 30 caps, 30 pts (6t)
5. Marvin Orie (DHL Stormers) – 7 caps, 0 pts
4. Eben Etzebeth (Cell C Sharks) 98 caps, 15 pts (3t)
3. Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92) 54 caps, 5pts (1t)
2. Joseph Dweba (DHL Stormers) 1 cap, 0 pts
1. Thomas du Toit (Cell C Sharks) 13 caps, 0 pts
Replacements:
16. Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) 47 caps, 55 pts (11t)
17. Ntuthuko Mchunu (Cell C Sharks) – uncapped
18. Vincent Koch (Wasps) 32 caps, 0 pts
19. Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – uncapped
20. Rynhardt Elstadt (Toulouse) – 3 caps, 0 pts
21. Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers – uncapped)
22. Grant Williams (Cell C Sharks) – uncapped
23. Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) 17 caps, 12 pts (1T, 2C, 1P)
Comments on RugbyPass
Yawn 🥱 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 🤐
13 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….
22 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….
13 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….
77 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
13 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
13 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
13 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
13 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
13 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
44 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to comments