South Africa have made five changes to their team to face France this weekend in the Autumn Nations Series, South African Rugby announced on Tuesday. Willie Le Roux comes in at full-back with Makazole Mapimpi moving to the bench as the back-three is re-shuffled from last Saturday’s 19-16 loss to Ireland.
Scrum-half Faf de Klerk, lock Franco Mostert, hooker Bongi Mbonambi and loose-head prop Ox Nche are the other new faces for the Rugby World Cup winners for the game in Marseille on Saturday.
“One of the changes was injury-enforced as Lood (de Jager) suffered a shoulder injury against Ireland, while we opted to make a few tactical personnel changes for the challenge that we expect France to pose,” Boks head coach Jacques Nienaber said in an SA Rugby statement.
“We know what each of the players in this squad can do, and we thought these combinations fit this specific game,” he added.
Uncapped fly-half Manie Libbok, who was the United Rugby Championship’s leading scorer last season, is named on the bench alongside Montpellier’s Cobus Reinach.
“Manie, meanwhile, has showed his big match temperament in the United Rugby Championship and he has been training well since joining the team, so if he gets a run, it will be a great occasion to make his Test debut,” Nienaber said.
“A guy like Cobus will also bring a different dimension to our attack, and it is a bonus that he knows the conditions in France and has also played with some of their players,” he added.
Source: eNCA
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