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nations-championship
South Africa made a late change for Friday Nations Championship clash with France, replacing the entire first row before the start of the game.
Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp and Thomas du Toit will now start at the Stade de France, with World Rugby Player of the Year Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche and Wilco Louw moving to the bench.
The switch completely reverses the front row combination Rassie Erasmus originally selected for Paris. Louw was promoted to the starting XV in the only change from the winning side Italy 66-7, and Du Toit falls to the substitutes.
The reason for the reshuffle was not given in the Springboks’ social media post, which confirmed the starting trio and corresponding bench changes.
“Late change to Springboks squad: front row of Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp and Thomas du Toit will now start, with Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche and Wilco Louw coming off the bench,” read a message shared on social media.
This is not the first time Erasmus has made such a change so close to the start this year.
Ahead of South Africa’s meeting with New Zealand in Cape Town in August, the Bok coach also made a late change to all three starting players, moving the originally selected trio to the bench and promoting their replacements.
On that occasion, Erasmus explained that the decision was influenced by a change in the weather forecast, where the conditions turned out to be drier than expected.
There is no indication yet that the same thinking is being applied in Paris.
The latest move sees Du Toit return to the starting jersey despite Louw initially being preferred after Italy managed to deny South Africa their usual scrum dominance in Turin.
Wessels and Steenekamp have since been promoted alongside him, leaving Marx, Nche and Louw available to deliver in the second half.
The rest of South Africa’s starting XV is unchanged for what could be a decider in the Nations Championship rankings.
Updated South Africa XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg; 1 Gerhard Steenekamp, 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Lood de Jager, 5 Ruan Nortje, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Jasper Wiese.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.