Springboks to blood duo in opening Wallabies Test

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Springboks to blood duo in opening Wallabies Test

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Elrigh Louw will make their first Test starts for South ******* against the Wallabies in Brisbane as the matchday 23 features only three changes that played Ireland in a two-Test series in July.

The Springboks won the first match 27-20 before losing the second 25-24 to Ireland. The only new players from those matches are Louw, two-time Rugby World Cup-winning No.9 Cobus Reinach and replacement utility forward Ben-Jason Dixon.

Australia, who are 3-0 to start the season, will name their team later on Thursday for Saturday’s opening Rugby Championship match. The teams play again on August 17 in Perth.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who is 22, will start at No.10 after four appearances off the bench this season while coming on at either five-eighth or fullback. Louw starts at No.8 after four replacement appearances since his debut at the start of the 2022 season.

Only six players were retained in the squad from the 64-21 win over Portugal at the end of July — Louw, Reinach, Dixon, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, R.G. Snyman at lock and Kurt-Lee Arendse on the wing.

The new halfback combination sees Reinach continue at No.9 in place of the Faf de Klerk, who is injured, while experienced Handre Pollard provides cover off the replacements’ bench.

“Sacha has made a notable impact off the bench in all four Tests he has played so far, and he’s slotted into the system with ease, so we are excited to see what dynamic he adds to the team as a starter,” South ******* coach Rassie Erasmus said of Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

“His goal-kicking has also been impressive, and we know that against teams like Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina the margins are very small, so every point will count.”

SOUTH ******* SQUAD:

******* le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach, Elrigh Louw, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (capt), R.G. Snyman, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Reserves: Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Ben-Jason Dixon, Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith, Grant Williams, Handre Pollard.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Springboks #blood #duo #opening #Wallabies #Test

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up