South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has named his squad for the second round of the Rugby Championship, with a significant amount of changes made for the second Test against the Wallabies. Erasmus is looking to utilise the ever growing Springboks squad depth in this fixture, with 10 changes made from the side that recorded a 33-7 win in Brisbane.
Erasmus has named two players to make their first starts for the Springboks, with scrum half Morne van den Berg and lock Ruan Nortje ready for their maiden run out from the off. These two talents are rotated in to start, along with a further eight changes to the match day squad. Lock Salmaan Moerat will captain the team, while regular captain Siya Kolisi is one of the many players from Saturday’s victory who is rotated.
Marco van Staden (loose forward) is promoted from the bench to take Kolisi’s No 6 jersey, while the only players retaining starting places are Cheslin Kolbe (wing), Jesse Kriel (centre), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (flyhalf), Elrigh Louw (No 8) and Pieter-Steph du Toit, who moves from lock to flanker).
The changes to the team were motivated by Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus’ desire to continue finding the balance between building momentum and expanding squad depth.
“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,” said Erasmus.
“We have a group of about 45 players that are part of our wider squad this season and we’ve 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.”
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.
Five other players who were members of that emphatic 64-21 victory also join them in Van den Berg, Aphelele Fassi (fullback), Lukhanyo Am (inside centre), Makazole Mapimpi (wing) and Manie Libbok (flyhalf), with the latter starting on the replacements bench showing a traditional split of five forwards and three backs.
Erasmus added: “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.”
Springbok team to face Australia in Perth:
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 5 caps
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 34 caps
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 72 caps
12 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 36 caps
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 43 caps
10 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 5 caps
9 – Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions) – 1 cap
8 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 5 caps
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 80 caps
6 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 21 caps
5 – Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap
4 – Salmaan Moerat (captain, DHL Stormers) – 8 caps
3 – Thomas du Toit (Bath) – 19 caps
2 – Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap
1 – Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 68 caps
17 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 32 caps
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 53 caps
19 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 123 caps
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 44 caps
21 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 12 caps
22 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 15 caps
23 – Handré Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 72 caps