Duane Vermeulen back for Springboks against Wallabies

No. 8 Duane Vermeulen will return from injury to start for world champion South Africa but wing Cheslin Kolbe is out for the first of two back-to-back tests against Australia in the Rugby Championship on Sunday.

Vermeulen hasn't played for the Springboks since the 2019 Rugby World Cup final and missed the British and Irish Lions series to have surgery to fix an ankle injury he sustained just before that series.

Kolbe was injured in training and was replaced by Sbu Nkosi on the right wing in Wednesday's team announcement.

Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber picked his strongest front five and also named six forwards on the replacement bench — three of them loose forwards — in a 6-2 split that once again emphasized South Africa's preference for its big men to get the job done.

In all, Nienaber made 13 changes to the 23 that beat Argentina in South Africa's last game in the championship last month, seven in the starting 15. South Africa beat Argentina twice to start its championship campaign while also resting some of its frontline players following a bruising Lions series.

Australia has lost three successive games against New Zealand, two of them in the Rugby Championship.

Vermeulen's return against the Wallabies on the Gold Coast was the biggest change as the Boks prepared for their first overseas test since the World Cup final in Japan in November 2019. Vermeulen was man of the match in the final.

"He's an experienced player, he's been there before, he almost knows the shortcuts," said Nienaber. "I can't wait for him to get back onto the field. He also can't wait."

Scrumhalf Faf de Klerk also returned to the starting lineup to partner flyhalf Handre Pollard. De Klerk missed the decisive test in South Africa's series win over the Lions and both games against Argentina with injury.

Other than Nkosi in for Kolbe and Franco Mostert continuing to stand in for Pieter-Steph du Toit at No. 7 flank, South Africa was at full strength for a test billed as a clash of styles between the Springboks' forward power and tactical kicking and Australia's preference to move the ball wide.

It'll be the first time the Springboks have played in front of a crowd for two years because of the pandemic.