Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber says his players would take offence to being branded a 'B' team and insists the main objective is to beat Wales on Saturday.
South Africa came out on top in a dramatic 32-29 encounter at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday, which Nienaber admits gave him the opportunity to experiment with selection this time ahead of the second Test in Bloemfontein. He's taken that chance by making 14 changes to the starting team, with lock Eben Etzebeth the only survivor.
While the Test is clearly being used to expose players with a view to the Rugby World Cup in France next year, it is still an extremely formidable challenge for Wayne Pivac's side. The 23 includes seven players that featured in the URC final, including Evan Roos who had an outstanding season, and Handre Pollard, fresh off a Top 14 success with Montpellier.
COMMENT: Springboks' selection devalues Wales series no matter how good the second string are
Asked if he'd be offended by this side being labelled second-string, Nienaber said: "I don't think I would take offence but I think Eben [Etzebeth] would take offence, Handre [Pollard] would take offence and so would other players.
"Remember when we select a team I always say that we want to keep momentum, our main thing is to win. That is our biggest strategic objective, to win. We pick a side because we think they can beat Wales.
"It will be a nice test. You can maybe say: 'Why don't you wrap up the series and then give them a go in the last Test?' But you want to see how these players perform under pressure. Because if we're going to take them to a World Cup, if we're going to take them to New Zealand, then they must perform under pressure.
"When you wrap up a series, sometimes there is no pressure and it doesn't matter if you win or lose because the series is wrapped up. Where these players are playing, it will be a final for them, as it is for Wales.
"Wales didn't come here to compete, they came here to win a series and they are now playing for survival. It's going to be our challenge to face a fierce Wales team that is playing for survival.
"You want to see if our players are going to be able to perform under that pressure. We selected them because we think they can."
Wales, of course, are not averse to making changes and they came a cropper in the recent Six Nations when they made six alterations to the starting XV for the final match against Italy, which ended in an embarrassing defeat.
Nienaber added: "We wanted to tick a couple of boxes. I don't think it's unique to us. People might say: 'Why did you make so many changes?' I think it's common.
"If you look at France now, it's not a 'B' side playing in Japan, there is some experience there and there are some players left behind. If you look at what Wales did in the last game against Italy, there were six changes in that game. They didn't disrespect Italy at all.
"But obviously they were where they were. They could only finish third if they beat Italy but there is also an opportunity to give some guys a go. It's not a unique situation."
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