South Africa have made a huge eight changes for their vital match against Australia this Saturday.
The Boks’ surprise defeat to the same opposition last Saturday saw them fall to the bottom of the Rugby Championship table, and surely means that another defeat this time out would put pay to any hopes of winning only a second title since 2009.
And in response to that disappointing result, they have rung the changes as they look to put things right.
Canan Moodie makes his first start on the right wing at just 19-years-old, while Willie le Roux comes in at full-back.
In three enforced changes all due to knee injuries, Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am and Pieter-Steph du Toit are unavailable, so Damian Willemse moves from fullback to flyhalf, Jesse Kriel slots in at centre, and Franco Mostert gets the nod at openside respectively.
On the debut to Moodie and enforced changes, South Africa boss Jacques Nienaber said: “We selected a team we thought would be best for this match given that we have several players out with injuries and with an eye on how we want to play.
“Handre, Lukhanyo, Elton and Pieter-Steph are all carrying injuries which adds to a list that includes Cheslin Kolbe and Sbu Nkosi, while Kurt-Lee Arendse is also out serving a suspension, and this has forced our hand to make a few changes in some positions.
“With both fly-halves injured, Damian was the natural choice at No 10 where he has slotted in for us a lot. He is also becoming a settled player in our team with over 20 Test caps to his name.
“This will also be a great test for Canan, who was a stand-out player for the Bulls this season in the United Rugby Championship. He’s a very talented player, who will enjoy this opportunity.”
Rounding off the changes are three switches in the forward pack, as a new look front row sees prop Steven Kitshoff and hooker Malcolm Marx return to starting berths, while Jasper Wiese swaps back into number eight for Duane Vermuelen, who is on the bench.
Perhaps the most eye-catching sub on that bench is Frans Steyn, with the veteran fly-half set to play for the first time since 2021, as his career passes 16 years having made his debut in 2006.
On his side’s performance last week, and looking ahead to this one, Nienaber added: “We had a thorough review of our performance against Australia last week, and the most disappointing aspect is that were dominant in several areas of the game, but we struggled to show that on the scoreboard.
“This week is a final for us to stay in the competition and we are expecting Australia to be just as desperate, but so are we.
“We let ourselves down in the last two games and we are determined to rectify that this week and change our fortunes in Australia. We’ll prepare as well as possible this week to stay in the hunt for the title,” he added.”
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