South Africa make two changes for Rugby Championship clash against New Zealand
Thursday 6 October 2016 12:59, UK
South Africa coach Allister Coetzee has made two changes to his starting line-up for Saturday's Rugby Championship clash with New Zealand in Durban.
Both changes are due to injuries with scrum-half Faf de Klerk replacing Rudy Paige, who suffered a concussion in the 18-10 victory over Australia in Pretoria last Saturday, while Damian de Allende comes in for Jesse Kriel, who has a groin injury.
Juan de Jongh moves from inside to outside centre, with De Allende wearing the No 12 jersey and the two wings, Bryan Habana and Francois Hougaard, swap jerseys.
"Unfortunately for Rudy, he will not have completed his gradual return to play protocol by this weekend, which gives Faf another opportunity in the No 9 jersey," Coetzee told sarugby.net.
"Damian should slot in well next to Juan de Jongh in the midfield as they play together for the Stormers."
New Zealand have already won the Rugby Championship title but a victory will clinch second place for the Springboks.
Coetzee added: "The All Blacks will be a huge test, they are the number one side in the world and they have great form at the moment. We are playing at home and the boys are looking forward to the encounter against the world's best team.
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"It is important for us to end the campaign with a good performance against a very good All Blacks side. What I would like to see is that that we keep on improving as a team and build on our continuity and converting more of our opportunities into points."
South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Faf de Klerk; 1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c) 3 Vincent Koch, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Francois Louw, 7 Oupa Mahoje, 8 Warren Whiteley.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Willie le Roux.
