Cape Town – While Eben Etzebeth and Bongi Mbonambi will celebrate milestones when they run out against Wales on Saturday, the selection of Jaden Hendrikse at scrumhalf was the biggest surprise of the Springbok team named by coach Jacques Nienaber on Tuesday.
Experienced lock Etzebeth will play in his 100th Test and Mbonambi his 50th, and they will hope that these landmarks won’t bring bad luck to the South Africans – as has sometimes happened in the past – in the series decider at Cape Town Stadium (5.05pm kickoff).
But Nienaber opted to persevere with Hendrikse at No 9, despite the presence of Faf de Klerk, who will feature off the bench in the third Test. The Sharks youngster had a mix of the good and the bad in last weekend’s 13-12 defeat in Bloemfontein, where a few of his box-kicks were on point.
His service from the base, though, was a bit slow at times, although a large part of that attacking set-up is due to the coaches’ tactics.
De Klerk is the regular first-choice and was expected to partner Handre Pollard at Cape Town Stadium, but he didn’t have the best of games in the first Test at Loftus Versfeld either, and now Hendrikse is being given an opportunity to show his worth alongside the ‘A team’ that have been reinstated for the final showdown after sitting out the second Test.
The other change from the Pretoria Test sees Trevor Nyakane starting at loosehead prop in place of Ox Nche, while Pieter-Steph du Toit is at No 7, with Franco Mostert the lock back-up on the bench.
“We selected a team and player combinations that we think will be the best for this specific game,” Nienaber said in a statement on Tuesday.
“We had an honest discussion with the players, telling them what we require from them this weekend and what we would like to see in terms of their performance, and hopefully they can produce the goods and we can get the desired result.
“We have high standards as a team, and we would like to maintain that and build momentum with a challenging season lying ahead.”
Etzebeth will become the seventh South African to reach the 100-cap mark, after Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana, Tendai Mtawarira, John Smit, Jean de Villiers and Percy Montgomery, and Nienaber stated: “We are very proud of Eben and Bongi for their achievements, although it would be remiss of us as a team for that to out-shadow the fact that we need to win on Saturday to seal the series against Wales.
“Wales have shown over the years and in the last two matches that they are real fighters, and it will require a top-class performance from us on Saturday to register a victory and ultimately clinch the series.
“That said, Eben and Bongi have been true stalwarts to Springbok rugby, and we hope that we can make this a special occasion for them. No-one wants to remember losing their 100th or 50th Test, so we need to do everything we can to win the match.”
Springbok Team
15 Damian Willemse 14 Cheslin Kolbe 13 Lukhanyo Am 12 Damian de Allende 11 Makazole Mapimpi 10 Handre Pollard 9 Jaden Hendrikse 8 Jasper Wiese 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit 6 Siya Kolisi (captain) 5 Lood de Jager 4 Eben Etzebeth 3 Frans Malherbe 2 Bongi Mbonambi 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Bench: 16 Malcolm Marx 17 Steven Kitshoff 18 Vincent Koch 19 Franco Mostert 20 Kwagga Smith 21 Elrigh Louw 22 Faf de Klerk 23 Willie le Roux.