THE Springboks have suffered a huge blow ahead of Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash against the Wallabies after star lock Lood de Jager was ruled out.
Bok coach Jacques Nienaber announced his team on Wednesday, and said that De Jager had sustained concussion, and would not be able to feature at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane (9.05am SA time kickoff).
The Sale Sharks second-rower is the main lineout caller for the world champions, and his absence will see Stormers lock Marvin Orie come in at No 5.
Orie is also a specialist lineout operator, and will look to show Nienaber that he can handle the pressure of taking charge at the set-piece against the Australians.
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His selection also means that it is the first time that he will partner his Tygerberg High School teammate Eben Etzebeth at Test level, something both men were hoping to do one day.
The other change announced by Nienaber to the team that went down 28-26 to the Wallabies last Sunday sees Trevor Nyakane getting a start at loosehead prop in place of Steven Kitshoff, who moves to the bench.
Star wing Cheslin Kolbe has not recovered fully from a knock to the leg sustained in training in the first week in Australia, so Sbu Nkosi retains the No 14 jersey.
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Nienaber has also stuck with the same group of replacements on a six-two bench, apart from Kitshoff, which sees three loose forwards in Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith and Jasper Wiese, with Herschel Jantjies and Damian Willemse the only backs.
“This is an experienced group of players who knows what it takes to deliver under pressure, and we all know what we need to do to bounce back from last week’s defeat,” Nienaber said.
“Trevor is a Rugby World Cup-winning prop and his experience, as well as Steven’s experience off the bench, will be valuable against the Wallabies, who place a big emphasis on the scrums, much like we do.
“Marvin has also been in our system for a while. He has been working hard at training, and this will be another great opportunity for him.
“We identified the areas in which we need to be more effective this week, and we have been working hard at training to rectify the mistakes we made, so the key for us will be to be as competitive as possible in every contest during the match so that we can lay a good foundation to attack from and to use our point-scoring chances.”
Springbok Team
15 Willie le Roux 14 Sbu Nkosi 13 Lukhanyo Am 12 Damian de Allende 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Handre Pollard 9 Faf de Klerk 8 Duane Vermeulen 7 Franco Mostert 6 Siya Kolisi (captain) 5 Marvin Orie 4 Eben Etzebeth 3 Frans Malherbe 2 Bongi Mbonambi 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Bench: 16 Malcolm Marx 17 Steven Kitshoff 18 Vincent Koch 19 Marco van Staden 20 Kwagga Smith 21 Jasper Wiese 22 Herschel Jantjies 23 Damian Willemse.
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