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South Africa rugby coach Rassie Erasmus has defended making 10 changes to his side for this weekend’s rematch with Australia, insisting that they are showing no “disrespect” towards the Wallabies.
The Springboks got their Rugby Championship campaign off to an excellent start in Brisbane last Saturday, powering to a 33-7 victory.
The world champions have left out several key names, including captain Siya Kolisi, for the second encounter between the two sides in Perth as Erasmus assesses the depth of his squad.
Just two starters remain in the forward pack from the side that equalled South Africa’s biggest win against the Wallabies on Australian soil.
But Erasmus, who returned to the lead coaching role after last year’s World Cup, has stressed that there is still plenty of quality in his squad as his side look to take control of the competition.
“If you look at this team, there are 14 World Cup winners and there’s only two guys that are new caps, so this is not disrespect to Australia and this is not us feeling nonchalant about the game,” Erasmus said.
“This is us picking a team that we feel is good enough to still get us the win, although it will be really, really tough against a team that wants to bounce back.”
Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Elrigh Louw and Pieter-Steph du Toit are the only players to keep their places for the match at Optus Stadium.
Scrum half Morne van den Berg and lock Ruan Nortje are set to make their first starts for the Springboks, while Salmaan Moerat skippers the side for the first time.
Erasmus added: “It’s important to win the Rugby Championship and it’s important to build into the next World Cup and it will be fantastic to win the Rugby Championship.
“I think it would be a slap in the face of the guys who’s playing this weekend if we think they’re not as good as the guys playing last weekend. We trust them fully.
“I think if they played the team last weekend, the Springbok team, they would give them a hell of a go.”
Australia captain Allan Alaalatoa admitted the defeat was a “tough learning” for his side, especially after winning their first three matches of the season, beating Wales twice and defeating Georgia.
Joe Schmidt has made a handful of alterations to his Wallabies squad with key figures Angus Bell and Marika Koroibete back amongst things.
