Springbok heavyweights return as Erasmus names strong side to face England

Only Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi retain their starting jerseys from Sunday's Test as Erasmus returns to his tried and trusted for this weekend's short turnaround against England.

Meanwhile, Wilco Louw will play his first Test match since 2021 after being named in the starting front row alongside Nche and Mbonambi.

Other than Louw's inclusion, however, the side is a familiar one, with Etzebeth and RG Snyman packing down in the second row ahead of the familiar loose trio of Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese.

The backline is completely changed from last week, with Grant Williams and Manie Libbok getting the nod at halfback, while familiar faces Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cheslin Kolbe, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel and Aphelele Fassi form a potent backline.

Erasmus said his decision to make so many changes against Scotland was due to there being one less day to prepare for this weekend's clash.

"The turnaround between the Scotland and England Tests is short, so we had to be smart in our selection to enable us to field a fresh squad with only six days between two tough Test matches," said Erasmus.

"It obviously has a knock-on in effect in the sense that we've made 12 changes to the starting lineup, but we have been rotating our squad all season.

"Over and above that most of these players know each other really well having played together for the last few seasons, as well as in the Rugby World Cup, the Incoming Series, and the Rugby Championship, so we are pleased with the quality of the team we've been able to name."

The selection continues the form of the season with Erasmus averaging over eight changes per Test in the 11 team selections he has made since the opening match of the season against Wales at the same venue in June.

The bench returns to a five-three split in favour of the forwards. Cobus Reinach is recalled in partnership with Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am as backline cover, whlie Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Elrigh Louw and Kwagga Smith form a somewhat defused but still highly potent Bomb Squad.

Erasmus said the reversion to traditional five-three split was a response to the nature of the challenge England will provide.

"England pose a completely different challenge to Scotland, and we selected our squad based on what we would like to do in the match and also what we think will be best to counter the challenge England poses," said the Bok coach.

"Fortunately, we have quite a few players who can switch positions if necessary, so we feel we have adequate depth throughout the team, which allowed us to select this group of replacements.

"England come off two narrow defeats, but the quality of their performances was good in both matches, so we size of the challenge.

"We lost narrowly to Ireland and France in back-to-back matches in 2022 and a year later were world champions so we know we shouldn't read anything into the last two results."

In the last six meetings between the teams, each has recorded three wins, so Erasmus said he anticipated another arm wrestle: "England beat us three times out of four recently and we've only won three of the last six matches against them, so we have great respect for them, and we'll certainly not underestimate them.

South Africa - 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 RG Snyman, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3  Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Elrigh Louw, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Handre Pollard, 23  Lukhanyo Am

READ MORE: Quick turnaround no problem for Boks as they prepare for England