A much-changed Springbok side will be out for blood in their rematch with Australia in the second round of the Rugby Championship at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Saturday 23 August
To Win
South Africa | Draw | Australia
Handicap
SA | Australia
Rassie Erasmus has made 10 changes to the starting lineup that fell to a shock 22-38 defeat in Johannesburg a week ago, with Handre Pollard given back the keys at No 10 in place of Manie Libbok and Damian de Allende replacing Andre Esterhuizen at inside centre.
Out wide, Canan Moodie and Cheslin Kolbe come in for Kurt-Lee Arendse and Edwill van der Merwe respectively, while Test centurion Willie le Roux returns to the No 15 jumper in place of Aphelele Fassi.
Amongst the forwards, a crocked Siya Kolisi trades places with Jean-Luc du Preez at eighthman, with the Bordeaux-Begles-bound powerhouse earning a first Test start since 2018.
Franco Mostert swaps out with Pieter-Steph du Toit while a new-look lock pairing of Ruan Nortje and RG Snyman are named in place of Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager, both of whom move to a Bomb Squad bench. Finally, in the front row, Tommy du Toit takes up his spot at tighthead.
While an entirely different composition was announced internally for this match before the tournament began, Erasmus was forced into changing his selection plans after the horror show of last week.
“We actually already picked next week’s team, but we’ve always said if we lose momentum and not play well [we will make alterations] and we did both,” Rassie told the media in the immediate aftermath of the round one clash at Emirates Airline Park.
“The players actually know who’s going to play next week, but we had a chat now in the changeroom and that team will probably change a little bit.”
Erasmus will be expecting a huge turnaround from his team on the west coast, with many predicting Australia will be even better this time around, though they will have to account for a wild, wounded and highly motivated Bok side.
Going 22-0 down inside the opening quarter, the eventual comeback performance produced by Joe Schmidt’s men was nothing short of remarkable and will undoubtedly provide them with enough confidence and swagger to justify thoughts of what would be an historic double in the Republic.
However, the hosts are likely to go back to basics this week, cutting down on the overly expansive attacking play they showed on the highveld in favour of more trademark pragmatism. That’s not to say we won’t see some Tonyball play in action, but it should be dialled way back.
Verdict: Springboks on the minusGet on the back-to-back World Cup-winners to right the wrongs of round one and deliver a much more familiar showing against what could well be a bruised and battered Wallabies side.
