By Gavin Rich.
DHL Stormers captain Salmaan Moerat will lead the Springboks for the first time in Saturday’s one-off Incoming Tours test against Portugal at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has stuck true to his pledge to use the game to spread his selection net, and for the second time in the space of two years Bloemfontein will host a game where the Boks play with a team featuring 14 changes from the last time they played. The previous time was the middle test against Wales in 2022.
There are three new caps in the starting team and seven potential debutants in the match day 23 all told. There is just one player who started in the second game against Ireland in Durban a few days ago who will play again, and that is an interesting one as it is Kurt-Lee Arendse.
It was understood Canan Moodie was set to play in this game, with all of the players who did duty against Ireland being given 10 days off after helping Moerat’s team prepare for Portugal until the middle of the week (Wednesday). However, injuries do sometimes precipitate a change in plans, with another player from the Hollywoodbets Kings Park game who will start against Portugal being Moerat’s lock partner RG Snyman.
It is Snyman’s first start of the season after he came on as a replacement in the two games against Ireland. With Franco Mostert having come off injured against the Irish, there is a clear need for the Leinster bound lock to get some game time in the Bok No 5 jersey.
Saturday’s game will be Moerat’ Wales and although he was a late call up to the Bok World Cup squad after missing out through injury initially, he has not worn the Bok jersey since last August.
15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels
Substitutes: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Ruan Venter,20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Quan Horn.
Portugal, who stunned Fiji at last year’s World Cup in France, have been steadily climbing the world rankings, rising from 27th at the start of 2019 to their present ranking of 15th.