Rassie Erasmus said a short turnaround week necessitated a new-look Springbok lineup for Saturday’s Test against a ‘desperate’ England side in London.
Erasmus has made 12 changes to the Bok starting XV for the Twickenham clash, with tighthead prop Wilco Louw earning his first cap since 2021. Only Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi remain from last week’s win over Scotland.
Skipper Siya Kolisi, RG Snyman, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese bolster the pack, while an entirely new backline sees Grant Williams elevated to run-on scrumhalf.
“The turnaround between the Scotland and England Tests is short, so we had to be smart in our selection to enable us to field a fresh squad with only six days between two tough Test matches,” said Erasmus.
“It obviously has a knock-on in effect in the sense that we’ve made 12 changes to the starting lineup, but we have been rotating our squad all season.
“Over and above that most of these players know each other really well having played together for the last few seasons, as well as in the Rugby World Cup, the [July] series, and the Rugby Championship, so we are pleased with the quality of the team we’ve been able to name.”
Erasmus said the reversion to the traditional 5-3 bench was a response to the challenge he expected England to pose.
TEAM: Wilco starts as Boks recall big guns
“England poses a completely different challenge to Scotland, and we selected our squad based on what we would like to do in the match and also what we think will be best to counter the challenge England poses,” said the Bok coach.
“Fortunately, we have quite a few players who can switch positions if necessary, so we feel we have adequate depth throughout the team, which allowed us to select this group of replacements.
“England come off two narrow defeats, but the quality of their performances was good in both matches, so we sized up the challenge.
“We lost narrowly to Ireland and France in back-to-back matches in 2022 and a year later were world champions so we know we shouldn’t read anything into the last two results.”
In the last six meetings between the teams, each has recorded three wins, so Erasmus said he anticipated another arm wrestle: “England beat us three times out of four recently and we’ve only won three of the last six matches against them, so we have great respect for them, and we’ll certainly not underestimate them.
“As I said on Sunday, we will be facing a desperate England team that will give everything on Saturday, so the consistency in our player combinations will be vital for us to deliver the quality of the performance we would like to.
“It’s going to be vital for the players to gel quickly so hopefully we can start off strongly because we are expecting a full-out 80-minute battle.
“They are playing at home in front of a passionate home crowd, and we know they will give everything to turn their series around, so we believe it’s going to be a hard match until the final whistle,” he added.
Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
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