South Africa show depth as Rassie Erasmus makes 10 changes for Nations Championship clash against Scotland

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has honoured his promise of giving game time to as many players as possible by making 10 changes for the Nations Championship clash against Scotland in Pretoria.

Pieter-Steph du Toit, Damian Willemse, Jesse Kriel, Ruan Nortje and Paul de Villiers are the only Springboks to retain their places after Saturday's dominant 45-21 victory over England in Johannesburg.

The continued absence of injured skipper Siya Kolisi sees Du Toit retain the captaincy at Loftus Versfeld, where scrum-half Embrose Papier will make his first Springboks appearance in eight years.

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The backline named by Erasmus features a fresh back three of Aphelele Fassi, Edwill van der Merwe and Canan Moodie, with Kriel partnering Willemse in the centre and Handre Pollard forming a half-back pairing with Bulls team-mate Papier on home soil.

The loss of forwards Kolisi (hamstring) and Eben Etzebeth (concussion) on the morning of the England game, as well as prop Ox Nche and substitute Andre Esterhuizen during it, has given Erasmus the chance to shuffle his Springboks pack.

"We have good depth in our squad, and this will be a great test for the team," he said.

"We told the players from the outset that we would give as many of them a chance as possible to play this season, while we are also trying to manage some players, and others are not available for selection this week.

"So it was important to select a team with some continuity from last week while bringing in players we believe will be the right fit for what we are expecting from Scotland."

South Africa team to play Scotland

Starting XV: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (captain), 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Boan Venter.

Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Zach Porthen, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Vincent Tshituka, 21 Elrigh Louw, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Quan Horn.

South Africa's Nations Championship fixtures

All times UK and Ireland

• South Africa 45-21 England (Johannesburg, South Africa)
• vs Scotland (July 11) - Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria (4.40pm)
• vs Wales (July 18) - Kings Park Stadium, Durban (4.40pm)

Russell 'on track' to return for Springboks showdown

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend expects Finn Russell to return for his side's showdown with South Africa.

The talismanic fly-half sat out last weekend's campaign-opening victory over Argentina after missing the last three games of Bath's season with a calf injury.

Townsend explained Russell is progressing well and "should be" on course to face the world champions at Loftus Versfeld.

"He trained fine today, and he trained well at the end of the week," the Scotland head coach said.

"He's definitely over the calf injury. He may have been fit at the weekend. We just felt that he needed more training to really be available for the tough Test matches ahead of us, especially this one this weekend."

Northampton prop Elliot Millar Mills has left the Scotland camp and will play no further part in the remaining games this summer against the Springboks and Fiji after sustaining a calf injury early in Saturday's 47-38 win over the Pumas.

"It's obviously a real blow for Elliot, getting to start for Scotland in such a big game and building on the form that he's been showing with his club and with us over the last season," said Townsend.

"The blow too is that he's really match fit. He's been playing games for Northampton all the way to the [Prem Rugby] final.

"The only position that we came with more depth was tighthead prop, so we were lucky in a way that we brought four tightheads out here because D'Arcy Rae was coming back from injury and he'd been out with the Baa-Baas.

"Will Hurd played a semi-final for Leicester, so it means that there's no changes to our group. Will, Darcy and Zander [Fagerson] are training fully, so while it's a blow for Elliot, we don't have to bring anybody else in."

Scotland's Nations Championship fixtures

All times UK and Ireland

• Argentina 38-47 Scotland (Córdoba, Argentina)
• vs South Africa (July 11) - Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria (4.40pm)
• vs Fiji (July 18) - Murrayfield, Edinburgh (2.10pm)