`The Springboks are thin at No.8 ahead of next month’s World Cup in Japan.
With Warren Whiteley looking like he missed the boat because of injury and Dan du Preez also out of the picture after suffering a rib fracture in Super Rugby, coach Rassie Erasmus will test flanker Marcell Coetzee in this position against Argentina at Loftus on Saturday (5.05pm).
Erasmus says of his options at the back of the scrum: “When we put the squad together initially, we were thinking we were going to get
injuries somewhere along the line.
“We know Francois Louw and Duane Vermeulen can cover eight.
“And it’s a nice opportunity for Coetzee to show his versatility for us.
“It will be nice to know what he can do at eight as well.”
EXPERIMENT: Coach Rassie. Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix.
A good performance on Saturday might just see Coetzee booking his place on the plane to the Land of the Rising Sun.
He won’t be the only player looking to do so.
With his top stars given the week off, Erasmus says there are still spots up for grabs in the 31-man World Cup squad.
INJURED: Warren Whiteley. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix.
He explains: “There would have been 17 guys that would have been rested if [scrumhalf] Herschel [Jantjies] didn’t get the head knock.
“Those guys, I guess, have proven themselves already to make the World Cup squad.”
OUT OF THE PICTURE: Dan du Preez. Photo: Gerhard Steenkamp/BackpagePix.
With Jantjies out injured, Faf de Klerk has been included on the bench in a much-changed team to the one that beat Argentina last weekend.
Springboks
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 S’bu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Dillyn Leyds, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements:
16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn.