By Gavin Rich.
The Springboks will have almost a completely new-look team for the second test of the Castle Lager Series against Wales, but that won’t be the case for their opponents.
Wales head coach Wayne Pivac on Thursday named a starting team that featured just one change from the side that lost only to a last gasp Damian Willemse penalty in last week’s opening test in Pretoria. Alex Cuthbert has been pressing for a start for a while and gets his opportunity in place of British and Irish Lions tourist Josh Adams.
Adams drops to the bench, where Cuthbert did duty at Loftus. In the other change to the match day squad of 23, the uncapped Sam Wainwright comes in on the bench for the injured Ospreys tighthead Tomas Francis, who was stretchered off the field in the second half of the Pretoria clash and returned home during the week.
There had been some speculation that the experienced British and Irish Lions prop Wyn Jones might come in to add his know-how to the front-row exchanges, but Pivac scotched that theory quite early in the build-up week and said he was going to go for one of a couple of youngsters pressing for inclusion.
The continuity in selection is an indication that Pivac was happy with what his team produced last week, and backs them to take the one extra step they need to take in this game in comparison to Loftus if they want to become the first Wales team to win a test match on South African soil.
At this point the record for the team from the Principality in this country reads played 11, lost 11, but the last two games – last week and the final test of a two game tour in Nelspruit in 2014 – have seen the visitors come tantalisingly close to breaking their duck. The Welsh, captained again by Dan Biggar, will be further motivated in the Toyota Stadium game by the theory in Welsh rugby theories, helped by the views of someone like former British and Irish Lions legend Gareth Edwards, that the Bok coach Jacques Nienaber has disrespected the visitors by making 14 changes to his starting team.
Wales are sure to find that although it may be a new-look team, the side led by Handre Pollard will be more than competitive and Pivac, who is due to address a press conference on Thursday afternoon, is sure to point out that most of the players his men will face on Saturday produced dominant performances for their franchises on South African soil in the recent Vodacom United Rugby Championship season.
Wales team to face South Africa: Liam Williams; Louis Rees-Zammit, George North, Nick Tompkins, Alex Cuthbert; Dan Biggar, Kieran Hardy; Taulupe Falateu, Tommy Reffell, Dan Lydiate, Adam Beard, Will Rowlands, Dillon Lewis, Ryan Elias, Gareth Thomas. Replacements: Dewi Lake, Wyn Jones, Sam Wainwright, Alun Wyn Jones, Josh Navidi, Tomos Williams, Gareth Anscombe, Josh Adams.