{"id":281715,"date":"2025-11-13T12:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T12:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/281715\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T12:20:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T12:20:09","slug":"springboks-makes-11-changes-for-italy-with-another-unorthodox-bench-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/281715\/","title":{"rendered":"Springboks makes 11 changes for Italy with another unorthodox bench call"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rassie Erasmus has effectively ripped up the winning team sheet, making 11 changes to the Springboks side that beat France<\/a> as South Africa<\/a> look to maintain momentum against Italy<\/a> in Turin on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Siya Kolisi once again captains the Boks but he\u2019s just one of only four players retained in the starting XV alongside Boan Venter<\/a>, Kurt-Lee Arendse<\/a> and Damian Willemse.<\/p>\n

Almost everyone else gets rotated as Erasmus continues his stated plan to spread minutes during the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a full remodel up front. Venter is joined by Johan Grobbelaar<\/a> and Zachary Porthen<\/a>, the latter making just his second Test appearance. Jean Kleyn<\/a> returns for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup<\/a> final to partner Franco Mostert<\/a> in the second row.<\/p>\n

Kolisi keeps the No.6 jersey with Ben-Jason Dixon<\/a> \u2013 in his first Test outing of the season \u2013 at blindside and Marco van Staden<\/a> at No.8. Following on from the Boks\u2019 tendency to rely on hybrid players, Erasmus has once again opted to use van Staden as his back-up hooker.<\/p>\n

The backs have been similarly refreshed.<\/p>\n

Morne van den Berg and returning veteran Handr\u00e9 Pollard \u2013 who hasn\u2019t played since featuring against the All Blacks<\/a> in September \u2013 link up at halfback.<\/p>\n

Edwill van der Merwe joins Arendse on the wings while Ethan Hooker<\/a> teams up with Canan Moodie<\/a> in a punchy midfield combination and Willemse stays at fullback.<\/p>\n

In another unorthodox move, Erasmus has picked two second-rows and two back-rows on the bench as part of a 6-2 split, with Kwagga Smith<\/a> returning after missing out against France last weekend.<\/p>\n

RG Snyman, sitting on 48 caps, is in line to edge within one of the Springboks\u2019 50-club.<\/p>\n

Erasmus said the reshuffle fits the long-term plan: \u201cWe said from the outset of the tour that we want to give as many players as possible a chance to play, and we believe this team is best suited to the threats Italy will pose.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir victory will boost their confidence immensely\u2026 they have also beaten us in Italy before. We know what we are in for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springbok team to face Italy
15 Damian Willemse; 14 Edwill van der Merwe; 13 Canan Moodie; 12 Ethan Hooker; 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 10 Handr\u00e9 Pollard; 9 Morne van den Berg; 8 Marco van Staden; 7 Ben-Jason Dixon; 6 Siya Kolisi<\/a> (capt); 5 Franco Mostert; 4 Jean Kleyn; 3 Zachary Porthen; 2 Johan Grobbelaar; 1 Boan Venter.<\/p>\n

Replacements: 16 Gerhard Steenekamp<\/a>, 17 Wilco Louw<\/a>, 18 RG Snyman<\/a>, 19 Ruan Nortje<\/a>, 20 Andre Esterhuizen<\/a>, 21 Kwagga Smith<\/a>, 22 Grant Williams<\/a>, 23 Manie Libbok.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rassie Erasmus has effectively ripped up the winning team sheet, making 11 changes to the Springboks side that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-281715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}