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Springboks make 12 changes and move away from 7/1 bench split
By Liam Heagney
Rassie Erasmus has announced a Springboks team to take on England in London that has 12 changes following last Sunday’s win over Scotland. South Africa were 32-15 winners in Edinburgh in their Autumn Nations Series opener and they have now altered all seven of their starting backs, five of their starting forwards and pared their bench from a seven-one forwards/backs split back to a five/three divide.
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Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Eben Etzebeth are the three forwards retained from the XV that started at Murrayfield, and they are joined by Wilco Louw, RG Snyman, skipper Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kwagga Smith.
Louw only returned to the Springbok set-up as a late injury call-up for the tour; he played the last of his 14 Tests behind closed doors against Argentina in Port Elizabeth three years ago.
In the backs, Grant Williams, last weekend’s sole backline replacement in the 7/1 set-up, comes in to start on this occasion along with Manie Libbok at half-back. Aphelele Fassi, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse are the back three, with Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende combining at midfield.
The five bench forwards are Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Elrigh Louw and Kwagga Smith, with the three backs options consisting of Cobus Reinach, Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am.
Erasmus said: “England poses a completely different challenge to Scotland, and we selected our squad based on what we would like to do in the match and also what we think will be best to counter the challenge England poses.
“Fortunately, we have quite a few players who can switch positions if necessary, so we feel we have adequate depth throughout the team, which allowed us to select this group of replacements.
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“England come off two narrow defeats, but the quality of their performances was good in both matches, so we size of the challenge. We lost narrowly to Ireland and France in back-to-back matches in 2022 and a year later were world champions, so we know we shouldn’t read anything into the last two results.”
Springboks (vs England, Saturday)
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 9 caps, 30 points (6t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 38 caps, 101 points (16t, 3c, 5p)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 77 caps, 90 points (18t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 85 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 22 caps, 85 points (17t)
10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 18 caps, 94 pts (1t, 28c, 11p)
9 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 16 caps, 15 points (3t)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 32 caps, 10 points (2t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 85 caps, 55 points (11t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 90 caps, 60 points (12t)
5 – RG Snyman (Leinster) – 38 caps, 10 points (2t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 129 caps, 30 points (6t)
3 – Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 14 caps, 0 points
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 76 caps, 75 points (15t)
1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 38 caps, 0 points
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 74 caps, 105 points (21t)
17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 9 caps, 0 points
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 59 caps, 0 points
19 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 11 caps, 0 points
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 50 caps, 45 points (9t)
21 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 37 caps, 70 pts (14t)
22 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 78 caps, 767 points (7t, 108c, 167p, 5dg)
23 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 41 caps, 35 pts (7t)
Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)
I think England is missing Owen Farrel quite badly. He takes a lot of heat, but he also takes England to a higher level of performance. The reason I am less worried than I normally am for this weekend is because Farrel isn't playing.
In terms of Bok strength, it's pretty much the strongest we have.
Who is going to kick at goal? Libbok? 🤪 Take your prozac guys
His job is to create tries. Someone else can kick.
the reaction to the team announcement from some commenters seems quite unhinged.
its a good 23. Its not an entirely full strength Boks team, and its probably no better than the NZ team England played a couple of weeks ago.
where SA really have an edge is in terms of systems and cohesion, not in terms of players.
the SA front 5 are a really great unit, but England contained them pretty well last year. Boks fans have a short memory if they think they'll be able to walk over George Martin.
I've been critical of England's selections at 9 & 10, but I don't think Williams & Libbok are convincing either, especially if Libbok is the primary goalkicker. Fassi is a good player, but a long way off a prime Willie le Roux.
And the bench is obviously great, but not thaaat great. Am is coming to the end of his career, and there's a bit of a lack of heft - if Martin handles Etzebeth like he has done before, its not clear what Rassie's plan B would be.
looking forward to the game apart from penalty stress re no pollard starting
Manie will deliver!
Why bother with 1s and 2s when you can hit boundaries.
Cannot wait... The scary thing about the Boks at the moment is that they can pick 2 sides that would be able to compete with the best in the world. Add to this team the players out with injuries, and it becomes clear Rassie is leaving very little to chance in building a team for the next world cup. Some of the older players will fall by the wayside, but he has at least 2 or 3 players in line to replace them...
Full off your self bro ..2 teams really 😆 🤣 😂
How dare they pick 5 large grown monsters on the bench, have they no regard for the king and crown???
Hehehe..... 😅
Good night England. Not a chance.
They're toast.