Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has changed his halfback pairing for Saturday’s crunch Test against England at Twickenham.
After a poor showing in their 30-15 at scrumhalf, Herschel Jantjies is replaced by Cobus Reinach while fellow link Elton Jantjies, who controlled the game well against the Scots, makes way for Handre Pollard in two of three changes to the starting XV.
Describing all the changes as rotational, Nienaber also swapped Franco Mostert for Lood de Jager at lock in the only other change to the team.
The coach believes that having Jantjies on the bench opens up more possibilities for the team towards the end of the match.
He explains: “I thought Elton was outstanding last weekend and it’s good for us to give him a start.
“The way he trains and performs, he’s really pushing hard for a start.
“Handre [Pollard] did well when he came on.
“With Elton on the bench it gives us versatility in terms of the back-end of game, depending on if you’re chasing the game or maybe you’re in control of the game you can make certain substitutions. It gives us a little bit of versatility.”
Nienaber adds of what they expect from coach Eddie Jones’s team at the weekend: “England have made it clear that they’ll come hard at us in this match, and with a few British & Irish Lions players in their midst, home ground advantage and a new record of eight wins in a row against Australia adding to their motivation this weekend, so we know it will be a hard grind.”
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn.