Rugby South Africa name 12 internationals in side to face Bristol

SOUTH Africa ‘A’ head coach Mzwandile Stick has made five changes to his starting team to face the Bristol Bears at Ashton Gate Stadium on Thursday following his side’s 28-14 defeat to Munster last week.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Marco van Staden earn starts in a South Africa squad which features 12 capped Springboks.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu joined the South Africa ‘A’ team in Bristol on Sunday after spending the last two weeks with the Boks in Dublin and Toulon respectively, while Van Staden joined the ‘A’ team after being ruled out of Springbok coach

Jacques Nienaber’s original 35-man Castle Lager Outgoing Tour travelling squad due to a rib injury.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu replaces Johan Goosen at fly-half in a new half-back pairing with Grant Williams, while the only other change among the backs is at full-back, where Gianni Lombard takes over from Aphelele Fassi, who injured an ankle injury in the team’s 28-14 defeat against Munster last Thursday.

The changes in the forward pack were at hooker, where Andre-Hugo Venter is named in place of Joseph Dweba, who is on standby for the Springbok squad, with Van Staden replacing Phepsi Buthelezi at flank.

Stick said: “It was always our intention to give everyone in the squad game-time on this tour to assess our player resources and see what the players have to offer at this level.

“This week we will hand a few different players starting berths as the demands are different on players from the starting team and the bench.

“This is a very talented group of players and they have had a little more time to gel in the last few days after having little time together before the Munster game, and we are confident that this will show when they take the field against Bristol.

“Bristol are coached by Pat Lam and with his New Zealand background, he enjoys skillful running rugby, so we are expecting the pace of this game to be faster,” said Stick.

“From our perspective, we also have exciting backs and mobile forwards, and they certainly have the ability to keep up with this and make their presence felt.

“We did several encouraging things on attack last week and our defence was solid at times, so the main aspects for us this week is to be a more cohesive unit on the field and to use the chances we create on attack.

“The weather conditions resulted in several knock-ons at crucial times on attack last week, and that cost us dearly, so we need to be more accurate at converting those chances into points this week.” South Africa ‘A’ team: Gianni Lombard (Emirates Lions); Suleiman Hartzenberg (DHL Stormers), Henco van Wyk (Emirates Lions), Cornal Hendricks* (Vodacom Bulls), Leolin Zas (DHL Stormers); Sacha FeinbergMngomezulu (DHL Stormers), Grant Williams* (Cell C Sharks); Ntuthuko Mchunu* (Cell C Sharks), Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers), Thomas du Toit* (captain, Cell C Sharks), Jason Jenkins* (Leinster), Ruan Nortje* (Vodacom Bulls), Marco van Staden* (Vodacom Bulls), Elrigh Louw* (Vodacom Bulls), Jean-Luc du Preez* (Sale Sharks).

Replacements: JJ Kotze (DHL Stormers), Simphiwe Matanzima (Vodacom Bulls), Mornay Smith (Vodacom Bulls), Dan du Preez* (Sale Sharks), Sikhumbuzo Notshe* (Cell C Sharks), Phepsi Buthelezi (Cell C Sharks), Sanele Nohamba (Emirates Lions), Johan Goosen* (Vodacom Bulls).

* = capped Springbok