Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has come up with a mix of more experimentation and giving top players another warmup opportunity for the Greatest Rivalry Series in his selection for Saturday’s final home leg Nations Championship clash with Wales in Durban.
Last year’s Junior Springbok Junior World Championship winning flyhalf Vusi Moyo is the headline pick to start against the Guinness Six Nations wooden spoon team, who started the Championship with a win against Fiji in Cardiff before losing in Argentina this past weekend. They have shown steady improvement though since they lost heavily to the Boks in the last match of last year’s November tour.
Moyo, who has played one game for the Hollywoodbets Sharks in the Vodacom URC, will be joined by three other debutants in the form of fellow Junior World Cup winner Jaco Williams, who will start on the right wing at his home ground of Hollywoodbets Kings Park, lock Ruben van Heerden and tighthead prop Carlu Sadie.
Sadie is currently playing for Bordeaux-Begles and Van Heerden is heading for Montpellier after a few seasons with the DHL Stormers but all four newcomers have played for the Sharks and will therefore be very familiar with the Durban venue that will host their debut appearances at test players in the green and gold.
Sadie started in the game against the Barbarians in Gqeberha last month Moyo played off the bench while Williams and Van Heerden played for South Africa A against Zimbabwe in the curtain-raiser but there were no official international caps awarded for those games.
To help the youngsters settle in, coach Erasmus has chosen experienced players around them, with Jesse Kriel lining up at outside centre alongside Williams on his outside for his third successive test match, while another Sharks player, Aphelele Fassi, gets another chance to play himself back into form in the No15 jersey. Kurt-Lee Arendse is back on the other wing while Damian de Allende is reunited with Kriel in the regular first choice Bok midfield partnership. Veteran Cobus Wiese is Moyo’s partner at halfback.
Jasper Wiese is back as the starting No8 in a loose trio that sees skipper Pieter-Steph du Toit and Paul de Villiers continue as the flanks, while Cobus Wiese gets an opportunity to try and go a bit deeper in this game after he was injured before halftime in the 42-28 win over Scotland in Pretoria at the weekend.
Sadie has the world’s best hooker Malcolm Marx packing down between himself and Gerhard Steenekamp in the front row, with Wilco Louw moving to a bench role after starting against the Scots at Loftus. Ben-Jason Dixon is on the bench for a third successive week, as is utility front row forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels. With Andre-Hugo Venter also on the bench, it looks like Wessels will be the loosehead backup for Steenekamp.
2019 RWC winner Herschel Jantjies is back in the squad for the first time in a while as the scrumhalf cover for Reinach. Two additional World Cup winners, Manie Libbok and Damian Willemse, will play off the bench at Kings Park.
“We told the players from the start of the season that if everything played out well, we would give everyone in the squad a chance to play in the competition, and we are excited to see what the uncapped players, as well as those who have not been in the mix for a while, bring to the team,” said Erasmus.
“This squad shows an exciting mix of youth and experience, and while we are under no illusions about the threat Wales poses, we are looking forward to seeing what these players can do.
“Wales put up a good fight in their Six Nations matches against Scotland and Ireland, and they defeated Italy in their final match of the tournament. They also beat Fiji in the Nations Championship before going down against Argentina in a competitive match last week, so they are on the rise and will come out with a point to prove this weekend.”
The Bok coach was thrilled to see the four uncapped players get their opportunity to play and said: “They all played very well for their franchises this season, and have been working extremely hard at training, while waiting patiently for a chance to play, so we are delighted for them.
“Building squad depth has always been one of our pillars since 2018, and to have such an exciting group of players coming through is fantastic as we continue to build our squad for the future.
“We have full faith in their abilities, and I’m sure the senior guys around them will assist in keeping them calm on the field, so they can show the talent that earned them a place in the squad. Hopefully, we can make it a memorable occasion for them and our loyal supporters this weekend.”
The match kicks off at 17h40 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
Springbok team to face Wales in Durban:
15 Aphelele Fassi (Toshiba) – 16 caps, 35 pts (7t)
14 Jaco Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – uncapped
13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 89 caps, 110 pts (22t)
12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 98 caps, 55 pts (11t)
11 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Mitsubishi Dynaboars) – 31 caps, 120 pts (24t)
10 Vusi Moyo (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – uncapped
9 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers) – 51 caps, 95 pts (19t)
8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 45 caps, 15 pts (3t)
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (captain, Toyota Verblitz) – 97 caps, 70 pts (14t)
6 Paul de Villiers (DHL Stormers) – 2 cap, 0 pts
5 Ruben van Heerden (Montpellier) – uncapped
4 Cobus Wiese (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 0 pts
3 Carlu Sadie (Bordeaux Begles) – uncapped
2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 88 caps, 135 pts (27t)
1 Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 17 caps, 10 pts (2t)
Replacements:
16 Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers) – 1 cap, 5 pts (1 t)
17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 11 caps, 10 pts (2t)
18 Wilco Louw (DHL Stormers) – 30 caps, 10 pts (2t)
19 Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers) – 9 caps, 10 pts (2t)
20 Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 34 caps, 15 pts (3t)
21 Herschel Jantjies (Bayonne) – 24 caps, 25 pts (5t)
22 Manie Libbok (Kintetsu Liners) – 29 caps, 145 pts (2t, 48c, 13p)
23 Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 51 caps, 76 pts (8t, 9c, 4p, 2dg)
Stats and facts:
Springbok record against Wales:
Played 44; Won 36; Lost 7; Drawn 1; Points for: 1 230; Points against; 683; Tries scored: 145; Tries conceded: 57; Highest score: 96-13; Biggest win: 83 points; Win %: 81,8%.
Miscellaneous:
- After Saturday’s clash, Damian de Allende will require only one more Test appearance after this match to earn his 100th Test cap, while Pieter-Steph du Toit will only require two more to achieve that remarkable milestone.
- Cobus Reinach requires only one more try to move to 100 Test points in the green and gold.
- Pieter-Steph du Toit will lead the Boks for the third time in as many weeks in this weekend’s encounter.
- Should the Springboks register a victory, it will mark their 11th Test win in a row.
- The teams have met only once in Durban in 2014 – a game the Springboks won 38-16.
- The last time the teams crossed paths in South Africa was in 2022, when the Springboks won two of their three matches.
- The total Test caps in the Springbok starting line-up are 537.
- There are 285 caps in the backline, with 252 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 188 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline is 41, the forwards 32, while the players on the bench average 24.