Hooker Joseph Dweba will begin Saturday’sRugby Championship conflict towards New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park following the withdrawal of Bongi Mbonambi as a precautionary measure after taking a knock his knee at a Boks coaching session on Tuesday afternoon.
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Dweba, who began each Tests he has performed so far – towards Wales in Bloemfontein in July and Argentina in Nelson Mandela Bay final 12 months – will pack down alongside his former Cheetahs team-mate Ox Nche, with whom he progressed by means of SA Rugby’s national development pathway, which included that includes collectively for the Junior Springboks and SA Schools team.
The skilled Frans Malherbe, who earns his 50th Test cap this weekend, will pack down on the opposite facet of the entrance row.
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Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber mentioned Mbonambi would go for scans to his knee, however with restricted coaching time left earlier than Saturday’s Test with one discipline session scheduled for Wednesday and the captains run on Friday, and an necessary three-match tour to Australia and Argentina forward, in addition to the year-end tour, the coaches opted to withdraw Mbonambi for this conflict.
“We have an important Rugby Championship tour coming up and a year-end tour later this year, so we don’t want to take any risks with Bongi,” mentioned Nienaber.
“Joseph has been working hard at training and he’s been waiting patiently for his chance, and we feel that it doesn’t get better than facing the All Blacks, who are one of the best teams in the world.
“We have big squad and a large part of the logic around that decision was to ensure that all the players are familiar with our structures and systems, and to expose them to Test rugby to build our squad depth with an eye on next year’s Rugby World Cup. So, this will be a fantastic opportunity for Joseph.”
Nienaber mentioned Dweba’s sturdy mixture with Nche additionally performed a task in his leap straight into the Boks’ beginning lineup.
“Joseph and Ox come a long way together. They’ve played close to 100 first-class games together, and they know each other well on and off the field having played together since school level at HTS Louis Botha.
“They progressed through the SA Rugby junior rugby ranks together before forming a strong combination at the Cheetahs in the Currie Cup and Pro14 competitions, and we believe their familiarity will give us the best chance in this match,” added Nienaber.
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The revised Boks team may be seen beneath:
Springbok team to face New Zealand in Johannesburg (amended):
15 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 19 caps, 12 pts (1t, 2c, 1p)
14 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 52 caps, 60 pts (12t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 29 caps, 25 pts (5t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 61 caps, 35 pts (7t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 28 caps, 100 pts (20t)
10 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 63 caps, 649 pts (7t, 88c, 141p, 5d)
9 – Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks) – 5 caps, 5 pts (1t)
8 – Duane Vermeulen (Ulster) – 61 caps, 15 pts (3t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 61 caps, 25 pts (5t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 66 caps, 35 pts (7t)
5 – Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 59 caps, 25 pts (5t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Cell C Sharks) – 101 caps, 15 pts (3t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 49 caps, 5pts (1t)
2 – Joseph Dweba (DHL Stormers) – 2 caps, 0 pts
1 – Ox Nche (Cell C Sharks) – 10 caps, 0pts
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 50 caps, 55 pts (11t)
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 62 caps, 5pts (1t)
18 – Vincent Koch (Wasps) 35 caps, 0 pts
19 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 54 caps, 5pts (1t)
20 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 14 caps, 0 pts
21 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 22 caps, 5 pts (1t)
22 – Hershel Jantjies (DHL Stormers) – 22 caps, 25 pts (5t)
23 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 75 caps, 65 pts (13t)
