Springboks make shock captain’s call, 13 changes for Wallabies clash

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has named a largely second-string team to take on the Wallabies in Perth, with only two survivors from the side that beat the All Blacks in Baltimore.

Lock Eben Etzebeth and winger Ethan Hooker are the only players to retain their places in the run-on team from the 43-28 victory.

In a major surprise, inside centre Andre Esterhuizen will captain South Africa for the first time, with Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe among the big names missing.

But such is South Africa’s incredible depth, they still start warm favourites in Sunday’s one-off Test at Optus Stadium.

Erasmus has named a powerful bench that includes the dominant scrummaging trio of Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche and Wilco Louw.

“Each player in this squad has been working hard at training over the last few months and have had a chance to play in either the first leg of the Nations Championship or RGR (Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry), or both, while guys like Handre (Pollard) and Canan (Moodie) have recovered from injury, and they are all quality players, so we are pleased to give them a run, and we are excited to see this team in action,” Erasmus said.

“Australia poses a completely different threat to New Zealand in the way they play, so we believe these combinations would be best suited for the challenge that we will face against them.”

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Esterhuizen, 32, will captain his nation in his 36th Test.

“He has brought so much to our squad off and on the field, both at centre and in the loose trio, and he thoroughly deserves this opportunity,” Erasmus said.

“It will also help build our leadership core even more within the team with several players having captained the side over the last few seasons, and we trust that he is the right man to take over the captaincy in this match.”

Veterans Du Toit and De Allende did not make the trip to Australia at all after being released from the squad.

“They had a heavy workload in the last few months, and they deserve a break, but at the same time we decided from the outset that if everything went according to plan, we would rest them for this match, so it made sense to send them home to spend time with their families,” Erasmus said.

“We’ve been working closely with our head of athletic performance Andy Edwards on how best to manage the players to get the most out of them in this important encounter, so we had a few days off for the players’ bodies to recover from the last few Tests and also from the travel, so we had two days of training in Terrigal and resumed our usual Test week programme on Tuesday.”

The Wallabies shocked the Springboks in Johannesburg last year before the world champions got revenge a week later in Cape Town.

Les Kiss is unbeaten as Wallabies coach since replacing Joe Schmidt.

“This is going to be a big challenge against a team that has been playing good rugby, and who have won four of their last five matches, with their other result being a draw against the Pumas in Argentina,” Erasmus said.

“They also suffered a narrow defeat against Ireland in the Nations Championship and registered a comprehensive victory over Italy, and they will be playing in front of their home crowd, so we know a big game lies ahead.

“They are a proud nation and will certainly want to continue building momentum going into their next two clashes against the All Blacks and the second leg of the Nations Championship in November, so they are going to throw everything at us.

“Adding to that, they have physical forwards and a very exciting backline, so it will take another big performance from us to get the result.”

Kiss will name his Wallabies team on Friday.

He will be without athletic loose forward Charlie Cale after the team announced that his shoulder injury would require season-ending surgery.

Nick Champion de Crespigny has been called into the squad as cover.

Springboks (15-1): Aphelele Fassi, Edwill van der Merwe, Canan Moodie, Andre Esterhuizen (c), Ethan Hooker, Handre Pollard, Herschel Jantjies, Marco van Staden, Elrigh Louw, Paul de Villiers, Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Zachary Porthen, Johan Grobbelaar, Jan-Hendrik Wessels

Reserves: Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche, Wilco Louw, Lood de Jager, Jasper Wiese, Morne van den Berg, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Quan Horn

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