After narrowly beating a struggling welsh side, the Springboks have been allowed to get well ahead of themselves…again.
Back when the All Blacks were world number one, if they had beaten the 5th placed Six Nations side by just 2 points there would have been turmoil in the country. Investigations and reviews would have been well underway the very next day.
For South Africa however, they’ve decided to field a second strength side and take the p*** out of the Welsh on social media.
Bizarrely with this new lineup, their social media team believes they ought to give the Welsh a ‘chance’.
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Whilst true that it is the ‘Official unofficial Springboks account’, the lineup certainly is official and there can be no doubting the confidence of the nation at this time.
An exciting return for world-class centre Andre Esterhuizen will excite premiership fans in particular. Recently named the premiership player of the season for 2021/2022, Esterheizen will be thundering down that 12 channel expecting to smash through the Welsh defence at every possible opportunity.
Henry Pollard has regained his place at fly-half and takes over as captain. This comes after a week to forget for Elton Jantjies as he underperformed for the world champions in the first test.
No place for Cheslin Kolbe in this week’s lineup
South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber had the following to say regarding his 14 changes to the squad:
“We said from the outset that we needed to strike a balance between giving our talented young players an opportunity to show what they can do at international level.
“If one looks at the balance between players who have played at this level and those who have performed consistently well for their franchises and clubs, I think we have a nice balance in this squad.
“A number of these players have been with us for a few seasons, while others travelled with us last season to Australia Rugby Championship and the year-end tour.
“Then there are a few new faces who showed during the season that they have the potential to rise to this level of the game, so we are excited to see what they can do on Saturday.
“Wales showed last week that they are fighters and can go for the full 80 minutes and we are expecting nothing different from them this week.
“This will be a good test for the younger players in the group to measure themselves against some of the best players in Wales, some of whom played for the British & Irish Lions, so everyone knows they will be in for a proper Test on Saturday.
“We are delighted to see these players get an opportunity at this level and I believe if they play to their potential, they will bolster our depth going forward.
“They are all very excited at the prospect of wearing the green and gold, but they also know what Wales will bring on the day and that every opportunity will be important.”
Line Up:
Warrick Gelant; Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Andre Esterhuizen, Aphelele Fassi; Handre Pollard (capt), Jaden Hendrikse; Thomas du Toit, Joseph Dweba, Trevor Nyakane, Eben Etzebeth, Marvin Orie, Marcell Coetzee, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Evan Roos.
Replacements: Malcolm Marx, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Vincent Koch, Ruan Nortje, Rynhardt Elstadt, Deon Fourie, Grant Williams, Damian Willemse.
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