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Cape Town - The return of Franco Mostert at lock is the only change in the Springbok starting team for the second round Rugby Championship clash against Argentina on Saturday in Mendoza.
The match in the Estadio Malvinas Argentina starts at 21:10 (SA time) and will be televised live on SuperSport 1.
Mostert was rested for last weekend’s Springbok victory over the Pumas in Durban following his heavy workload so far this year. He comes back into the starting team for Saturday’s Test and will form a second row partnership with Eben Etzebeth, which sees Pieter-Steph du Toit moving to the bench as cover.
There are two more changes amongst the forward replacements.
RG Snyman (lock) makes a return to the match 23 in place of Marvin Orie, who is not touring, while Wilco Louw (prop) rotates places with Thomas du Toit.
SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, explained the inclusion of Mostert in the starting XV: “Franco needed rest after Super Rugby and the June internationals and we therefore didn’t consider him for Durban. He’s been our first-choice No 5 lock and that’s why is starting on Saturday.”
Erasmus kept his backline unchanged and also resisted the temptation to tweak his loose forward combination.
“I want to us to build more continuity and those combinations now have another opportunity to play together and gain more experience,” said Erasmus.
Regarding Saturday’s challenge against Argentina, Erasmus said: “We’ve always rated them as a very physical team and we felt the game (in Durban) was physical. They’re going to step it up and I think they will come hard at our mauling, scrums and the breakdowns.”
The Springboks travel to Mendoza on Friday where they will conclude their match preparations.
Teams:
Argentina
TBA
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Siya Kolisi (captain), 6 Francois Louw, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Damian Willemse
