DHL Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat will lead the Springboks for the first time in Saturday’s one-off Incoming Tours test against Portugal at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has stuck true to his pledge to use the game to spread his selection net, and for the second time in the space of two years Bloemfontein will host a game where the Boks play with a team featuring 14 changes from the last time they played.
The previous time was the middle test against Wales in 2022.
With Salmaan Moerat set to captain the Springboks this weekend against Portugal, lets rewind the clock two years back to when he made his debut in Pretoria 🇿🇦👏 pic.twitter.com/FsOsFVXqDI
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 16, 2024
There are three new caps in the starting team and seven potential debutants in the match day 23 all told.
There is just one player who started in the second game against Ireland in Durban a few days ago who will play again, and that is an interesting one as it is Kurt-Lee Arendse.
𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Salmaan Moerat will captain the Springbok team that will face Portugal in Bloemfontein 🇿🇦🚨 pic.twitter.com/pEmLQsInss
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 16, 2024
It was understood Canan Moodie was set to play in this game, with all of the players who did duty against Ireland being given 10 days off after helping Moerat’s team prepare for Portugal until the middle of the week (Wednesday).
However, injuries do sometimes precipitate a change in plans, with another player from the Hollywoodbets Kings Park game who will start against Portugal being Moerat’s lock partner RG Snyman.
It is Snyman’s first start of the season after he came on as a replacement in the two games against Ireland.
With Franco Mostert having come off injured against the Irish, there is a clear need for the Leinster bound lock to get some game time in the Bok No 5 jersey.
Saturday’s game will be Moerat’s seventh appearance for the Boks.
He too played off the bench against Ireland.
Salmaan Moerat's family has a proud history in South African rugby 🇿🇦🏉 pic.twitter.com/VRG54eVP6s
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 16, 2024
NEW CAPS
The new caps in the starting team are two members of what looks a very interesting front row, the Vodacom Bulls duo of Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Johan Grobbelaar, and Hollywoodbets Sharks looseforward Phepsi Buthelezi, who will be on the openside flank.
Phepsi Buthelezi will make his Springbok debut this weekend and spoke about what he's learned from being with the team for the last few weeks 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/bNub8Ef3rt
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 16, 2024
Why the front row is interesting is that Wessels is starting at loosehead prop after playing most of his rugby for the Bulls at hooker.
Wessels is behind Grobbelaar in the pecking order at hooker at the Pretoria franchise.
Erasmus made it known though when he called Wessels up to be part of the extended squad that he was looking at him as a swinger, meaning a player who can be flexible when it comes to front-row positions.
The back-up hooker in the Portugal game is another debutant, Andre-Hugo Venter, who is of course the son of the legendary former Bok flanker Andre Venter.
It could be a very special weekend for the Venter family 👨👦 pic.twitter.com/UFj4zE3es8
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 16, 2024
Venter plays behind Joseph Dweba at the Stormers. The other uncapped players are all Emirates Lions players - lock Ruan Venter, scrumhalf Morne van den Berg and fullback Quan Horn.
Aphelele Fassi, the Sharks fullback who was good in the opening test of the year against Wales at Twickenham, gets another starting opportunity in the No 15 jersey, while Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who played 77 minutes in the Bok last line of defence in the second test against Ireland because of the early injury to Willie le Roux, is on the bench.
With Horn there as a back-up fullback, it appears Erasmus wants to see Feinberg-Mngomezulu get more time at flyhalf.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s Stormers teammate Manie Libbok, who was a regular in the Bok No 10 jersey for much of last year, gets his first chance of the season as the starting flyhalf against Portugal, with Cobus Reinach as his halfback partner.
AM BACK IN NO 13 JERSEY
Another player who was good against Wales, Evan Roos, is back in the starting team at No 8, while his Stormers teammate BJ Dixon gets his first start on the blindside flank after playing a cameo against Wales.
World Cup winner Trevor Nyakane gets his first game time of the season off a bench that also includes his new Sharks teammate Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Talking of returning World Cup winners, this game will see the return of 2019 hero Lukhanyo Am to the No 13 jersey.
Am was unavailable due to injury when the Boks played Wales and although he was a late call up to the Bok World Cup squad after missing out through injury initially, he has not worn the Bok jersey since last August.