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nations-championship
Rassie Erasmus made just two changes to his South Africa team at the match France at the Stade de France on Friday, with Eben Etzebeth not included in the 23.
Wilco Louw was promoted to the starting front row in place of Thomas du Toit after his impressive contribution off the bench in the 66-7 demolition of Italy, while Cobus Reinach replaced Grant Williams among the substitutes.
Du Toit drops to the bench as part of a rotational switch, leaving the rest of the starting XV unchanged. Lood de Jager and Ruan Nortje continue in the second row after De Jager was drafted into the XV shortly before kick-off in Turin when Salmaan Moerat suffered back spasms.
Etzebeth arrived in France on Monday after a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury, but Erasmus opted against immediately returning the 147-man to his squad for the game. Franco Mostert provides second row cover from the six-two bench alongside Cameron Hanekom and Paul de Villiers.
An unchanged backline means Morne van den Berg and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu retain the half-back jerseys after impressing against Italy, with Ethan Hooker, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Damian Willemse making up the trio. Sixteen of the 23 also featured when South Africa beat France 32-17 in Paris last year.
“We’ve said from the start that we’re not going to rotate too much on this tour, so it was always our intention to pick a settled team for this game to build momentum in the competition,” said Erasmus.
“Most of these players have faced France at home and know what to expect from them and have also experienced their passionate and loud crowd first hand.”
Regarding Etzebeth’s omission, Erasmus added: “Eben has just arrived in France, and although we know what he brings to the team, we feel it would be better for him to get back into the swing of things this week after some time on the sidelines.
“Lood and Franko are also very experienced players and have been training with us for almost two weeks after arriving in Italy a week before last week’s test match. Both have faced France in high-pressure matches and delivered, so we know what we have in them and what they will bring to the team this week.”
Explaining his two changes, Erasmus said: “Our front row is well-rounded and they’ve all been playing together for a few seasons, so we’ve rotated with Wilco and Thomas, while Cobus is also very familiar with French conditions having played club rugby here, so we thought he’d be thrown into the mix against a quality French side.”
“The matches between us and France are always tense, and this week will be no different.
“Both teams have everything they can play for, France leads the Northern Hemisphere rankings, and the national team is fourth in the world, and we are in a similar situation and we are trying to keep the first places in the respective Nations Championship hemispheric table, so this match is vital for both sides as they try to reach the finals of the competition in a few weeks time.”
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 Ox Nche, 2 Malcolm Marx, 3 Wilco Louw, 4 Lood de Jager, 5 Ruan Nortje, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Jasper Wiese.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.
