Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has brought in his hele northern hemisphere stars to help his team beat France in Paris on Saturday night at 10.05 pm.
Erasmus made three changes to the starting XV that lost 12-11 to England last weekend, with Wasps fullback Willie le Roux coming in for Damian Willemse, Sale Sharks scrumhalf Faf de Klerk replacing Ivan Zyl and Gloucester’s Franco Mostert taking the place of Eben Etzebeth in the second row.
The trio will be joined by fellow European-based stars Cheslin Kolbe (Toulouse), Vincent Koch (Saracens) and Francois Louw (Bath) on the bench.
BACK IN THE MIX: No.9 Faf de Klerk. Photo: MUZI NTOMBELA/BACKPAGEPIX
His Euro stars were unavailable for last weekend’s match and of the changes, Erasmus says: “It’s good to have the experienced players back in the starting team for France.
“I thought Damian [Willemse] and Ivan [van Zyl] did very well last week against England, but you need as much experience as possible playing away from home.
“We are building squad depth for the World Cup and they will be back in the mix as the tour progresses.”