Joe McConnell
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus says making 10 lineup changes for the rematch against Australia, who his side defeated in the opening Rugby Championship match, is not “disrespectful”.
The world champions secured an easy 33-7 victory over the Wallabies in Brisbane last weekend and have withdrawn some of their most established names for Saturday’s clash in Perth, live on Vscek that 10:45.
“If you look at this team, there are 14 world champions and only two players are new to the national team, so this is not a disrespect towards Australia and it does not mean that we feel indifferent towards the game,” Erasmus said.
“We are choosing a team that we believe is good enough to guarantee us the victory, even if it will be really tough against a team that wants to recover.”
Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Elrigh Louw and Pieter-Steph du Toit are the only survivors from the opening game, with scrum-half Morne van den Berg and second row Ruan Nortje called up for their first Test starts.
Salmaan Moerat will captain South Africa from the second row, while regular captain Siya Kolisi was one of nine debutants to be rotated into the squad. Loose forward Marco van Staden was promoted from the bench to take Kolisi’s No. 6 shirt.
Kurt-Lee Arendse is among those left to rest by South Africa
Erasmus added: “It’s important to win the Rugby Championship and it’s important to prepare for the next World Cup. It will be fantastic to win the Rugby Championship.
“I think it would be a slap in the face to the guys playing this weekend if we thought they weren’t as good as the guys who played last weekend. We trust them completely.
“I think if they played against the Springbok team last weekend, they would give it their all.
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Highlights of Argentina’s stunning win over New Zealand in Wellington
Australia had won their first three games of the season, beating Wales twice and defeating Georgia, before losing to the Springboks last weekend. The Wallabies are expected to announce their squad for Thursday’s Perth Test.
New Zealand and Argentina will also meet again on Saturday, after the Pumas shocked the All Blacks 38-30 in the tournament’s opening match.
South Africa team will face Australia in the second Test
15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Lukhanyo Am, 11 Makzolo Mapimpi, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg; 1 Elrigh Louw, 2 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 3 Marco van Staden, 4 Ruan Nortje, 5 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 6 Thomas du Toit, 7 Johan Grobbelaar, 8 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Substitutions: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Grant Williams, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Handre Pollard.
Watch New Zealand v Argentina at 8.05am, followed by Australia v South Africa at 10.45am live on Vscek Action on Saturday 17 August.
Vscek+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, the NOW streaming service and the Vscek app, giving Vscek customers access to over 50 percent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.
