Heyneke Meyer has made four changes to the South Africa side that beat England for their game against Italy this weekend. Johan Goosen comes in at fullback for Willie le Roux, while in the pack Teboho Mohoje replaces Schalk Burger, Trevor Nyakane starts ahead of Tendai Mtawarira and Coenie Oosthuizen comes in for Jannie du Plessis.
“I’m excited to see what these guys can do on Saturday in what will be a stern Test against a fired-up Italy,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
“We planned to make a few shifts for this Test as I’d like to see if these players can make the step up. The guys coming in deserve their opportunities and seeing that we won’t have our overseas-based players available next week against Wales, it made sense to bring a few of them in this week.”
South Africa team to play Italy:
15 Johan Goosen 5 caps, 8 points
14 JP Pietersen 58 caps, 90 points
13 Jan Serfontein 18 caps,10 points
12 Jean de Villiers (captain, 104 caps, 135 points
11 Bryan Habana 105 caps, 280 points
10 Pat Lambie 38 caps, 97 points
9 Cobus Reinach 4 caps, 5 points
8 Duane Vermeulen 27 caps, 10 points
7 Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje 5 caps, 0 points
6 Marcell Coetzee 24 caps, 30 points
5 Victor Matfield (vice-captain, 119 caps, 35 points
4 Eben Etzebeth 31 caps, 0 points
3 Coenie Oosthuizen 19 caps, 10 points
2 Adriaan Strauss 42 caps, 25 points
1 Trevor Nyakane 11 caps, 5 points
Replacements:
16 Bismarck du Plessis 68 caps, 45 points
17 Gurthrö Steenkamp 52 caps, 30 points
18 Julian Redelinghuys 0 caps, 0 points
19 Lood de Jager 7 caps, 10 points
20 Nizaam Carr 0 caps, 0 points
21 Francois Hougaard 33 caps, 25 points
22 Handré Pollard 7 caps, 61 points
23 Willie le Roux 23 caps, 35 points
Where is Warren Whitely, Marnitz Boshoff? Why play a make-shift ex loosehead prop as tighthead if you have flown in a proven tighthead prop as “cover” for an injured and visibly overplayed Jannie Du Plessis?