Cape Town – After beating Wales in their opening match of the End of Year Tour, the Springboks are now getting ready to take on Scotland in Edinburgh and make it two-out-of-two up north.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber made two rotational switches and one injury-enforced change to the starting side that pulled off the historic victory in Cardiff last week. With Franco Mostert coming in at lock and Elton Jantjies getting a run at flyhalf in the place of Lood de Jager and Handré Pollard respectively, the team looks a bit different to last weekend’s run-on side.
There is also a change at fullback, with Willie le Roux taking over from Damian Willemse, who sustained a concussion last week.
So, as the Boks hunt another win, here are three key match-ups.
Elton Jantjies vs Finn Russell
Jantjies hasn’t enjoyed many starting berths for the Boks, and this alone should have him wanting to go out and produce a strong performance on Saturday.
He was solid off the bench in the Boks’ last two Tests against New Zealand and Wales, and his skillset, deft kicking game should come in handy against the Scots.
The opposition will have their own wizard in the general’s jumper.
Russell’s handling and kicking skills make him one of the best 10s in the world, and the way he can manipulate defences only adds to his potency.
Jantjies going up against Russell is pure excitement.
Willie le Roux vs Stuart Hogg
Le Roux, who has come under fire for his displays in the Bok fullback jersey recently, will know that a positive influence from him is a non-negotiable against Scotland.
The 32-year-old sure has the abilities, but his struggles under the high ball and shaky handling at times have overshadowed the positives he does bring to the Boks.
When he’s good, he’s very good. And it’s that Willie that’s going to have to take the field on Saturday.
In their 15-13 win over Australia last weekend, the returning Scotland captain made some superb breaks and did well to help force the Aussies on the back foot at times.
Putting in another big shift – this time against the world champions – will certainly be on his checklist.
Trevor Nyakane vs Pierre Schoeman
Scotland have a health dose of South Africa where the scrum is concerned – with South African-born Pierre Schoeman starting at loosehead and former Bok scrum coach Peter de Villiers adding to the SA influence for Scotland.
The Scottish scrum can be expected to pose a tougher challenge than the Boks faces last week, but if Nyakane is the ultimate example of something, it’s the Springboks’ ridiculous front-row prowess.
In the other pack, Schoeman will start in the front row for his third Scotland cap and, up until now, he hasn’t looked out of place at this level at all.
But he will face a different challenge when he goes up against the Bok front row this weekend.
IOL Sport