More wholesale changes for second Argentina test
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has once again made several
changes to his squad for the second consecutive Rugby Championship test match against
Argentina at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.
The squad has a familiar look to it despite the changes as several the Springbok side that recently beat the British and Irish Lions returning to the starting XV following a first win of the Rugby Championship against Argentina last week.
The backline has been overhauled with just Cobus Reinach retained as the Boks battle a scrumhalf injury crisis.
Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende, Lukhanyo Am, Cheslin Kolbe and Willie le Roux all return after taking a rest last week.
Amongst the forward pack, there is an all-new front row with Trevor Nyakane, Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit all coming into the side. It will be a first test start for Du Toit since the World Cup.
Marvin Orie comes in for Eben Etzebeth while Franco Mostert starts on the side of the scrum in place of Kwagga Smith who has been shifted to the bench.
Nicolaas Janse van Rensberg is in line for a test debut as he starts on the bench while former Cell C Sharks loose forward Dan du Preez returns to the side.
The impressive front row of Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe will come off the bench while last week’s debutant Jaden Hendrikse and Damian Willemse are the two backline reserves.
“A few players didn’t play last week after a physically demanding Castle Lager 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,” coach Nienaber said.
“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.
Neinaber expects another tough test from the South American side who will be looking to upset the world's number one side.
“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.”
South Africa v Argentina
1 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Malcolm Marx, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Marvin Orie, 5 Lood de Jager, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Franco Mostert, 8 Jasper Wiese, 9 Cobus Reinach, 10 Handre Pollard, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 15 Willie le Roux.
Replacements
16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Nicolaas Janse van Rensberg, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Dan du Preez, 22 Jaden Hendrikse, 23 Damian Willemse.
