eBusiness Weekly
Head coach Jacques Nienaber has named six debutants to play Wales in the second Test; He believes they have to focus on strength in depth with the World Cup not far away.
South Africa named a new captain, plus two uncapped players in their starting line-up and a further four among the replacements as coach Jacques Nienaber announced wholesale changes for the second test against Wales in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Two debutants, winger Kurt-Lee Arendse and no.8 Evan Roos will start for the Springboks, and four more uncapped players will start on the bench in Ntuthuko Mchunu, Ruan Nortje, Dean Fourie and Grant Williams.
Eben Etzebeth, who will earn his 99th cap for South Africa on Saturday, is the only player to retain his starting spot, whilst prop Vincent Koch and match-winner Damien Willemse will start the Test on the bench.
Marvin Orie joins Etzebeth at lock and an all-new front row of Trevor Nyakane, Joseph Dweba and Thomas du Toit come in as South Africa test out their strength in depth.
Fly-half Handre Pollard comes in and takes over the captaincy from Siya Kolisi who has been rested.
Head coach Nienaber said the changes were made to “strike a balance” between giving players an opportunity while also ensuring they secure another win against Wales.
“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,” he said on Tuesday.
“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, I think 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 Castle Lager 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. – SkySports
