Boks go for experienced trio
The experienced trio of Willie le Roux, Faf de Klerk and Franco Mostert are back in the Springboks starting XV for their Test against France. The match in the French capital tomorrow morning is South Africa’s second fixture of their November tour to the United Kingdom and France.
The inclusion of le Roux, de Klerk and Mostert– with close to 100 Test caps between them– are the only changes announced by Rassie Erasmus, the Springboks head coach and SA Rugby Director of Rugby, to the run-on team when he confirmed the matchday 23 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Montpellier number eight Louis Picamoles has been named in France‘s starting line-up.
This will be Picamoles’ first start for Les Bleus since their 23-23 draw with Japan in Naterre last November. France head coach Jacques Brunel has made 13 changes in all to his run-on side which suffered a 49-14 defeat to New Zealand in Dunedin, in their last Test in June.
South Africa’s Le Roux takes over the 15 duties from Damian Willemse while De Klerk comes in at scrum-half to replace Ivan van Zyl, with the rest of the backline kept unchanged.
Nigel Owens (Wales)
Matthew Carley (England), Tom Foley Rowan Kitt (England) (England); -
15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Liam Squire, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Samuel Whitelock, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Karl Tu’inukuafe
16 Dane Coles, 17 Ofa Tuungafasi, 18 Nepo Laulala, 19 Scott Barrett, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Richie Mo’unga, 23 Ryan Crotty
15 Elliot Daly, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ben 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Cheslin Kolbe
15 Maxime Medard, 14 Teddy Thomas, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 11 Damian Penaud, 10 Camille Lopez, 9 Baptiste Serin, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Arthur Iturria, 6 Wenceslas Lauret, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Sebastien Vahaamahina, 3 Cedate Gomes Sa, 2 Guilhem Guirado, 1 Jefferson Poirot
16 Camille Chat, 17 Dany Priso, 18 Rabah Slimani, 19 Paul Gabrillagues, 20 Mathieu Babillot, 21 Antoine Dupont, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 Gael Fickou
16 Jamie George, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Charlie Ewels, 20 Courtney Lawes, 21 Danny Care, 22 George Ford, 23 Jack Nowell
Jérôme Garcès (France) Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Marius Mitrea (Italy); Marius Jonker (South Africa)
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