South Africa rugby coach Rassie Erasmus made 13 changes to the side that lost to New Zealand in the hopes of a better result in their second 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool B match against Namibia on Saturday.
In all, nine players will play for the first time in Japan while winger Makazole Mapimpi and centre Lukhanyo Am are the only players to start for the second straight game.
Six players who started the match in Yokohama will be on the bench while all the substitutes, except Jesse Kriel, are in the starting XV. Kriel, a utility back, suffered a knock to his hamstring during the 23-13 defeat to the All Blacks.
🧹 Clean sweep
1⃣5⃣ Revamped starting XV
🏉 New captain#StrongerTogether #RWC2019 #RSAvNAM pic.twitter.com/f2Ddc4cHrM— Springboks (@Springboks) September 25, 2019
Erasmus dispelled any speculation about the South Africans taking the game lightly as they have previously recorded huge wins against their opponents. Before the 2007 Rugby World Cup, South Africa ran out 105-13 winners in Cape Town and four years later claimed an 87-0 win in New Zealand.
“Every match is a must-win game for us now and we are treating this match with the same level of preparation as we did New Zealand last week. This is a Springbok team that is hungry to play and show what they can do and the majority of them have had the chance to play as a combination together a couple of times this season,” Erasmus said.
“Already we’ve seen that the Tier 2 nations are increasingly competitive in this tournament,” he added.
Schalk Brits was named the match day captain and will lead the Springboks for a second time, having done so in the one-off Test match against Argentina in Pretoria last month.
Thomas du Toit, who was drafted in to replace the injured Trevor Nyakane, was named among the substitutes as a front-row replacement.
Three South Africans: Frans Steyn, Francois Louw and Tendai Mtawarira, will face Namibia for a second time. They featured in the 87-0 win during the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
