South Africa’s (SA) world champion Springboks have named a heavily reshuffled starting line-up, making 10 changes ahead of this weekend’s test against Scotland.
Fresh from beating England 45–21 last weekend, Springboks Head Coach Rassie Erasmus has rotated his squad heavily, partly forced by a growing injury list. Speaking at the team announcement, Erasmus acknowledged that the missing frontline players mean a much younger, less experienced side will take the field in Edinburgh.
“Our average caps in the pack is about 25, which is not a lot,” Erasmus explained. “In the team there are 11 guys who have less than 10 caps. So, we will go into this game quite a bit less experienced than Scotland.”
Despite the steep learning curve, Erasmus views the shake-up as a vital opportunity to test SA’s next generation of talent and build long-term depth. “This will be a nice test for all of these guys to see when we get to the important part next year or two who these guys are and everything, most of them we wouldn’t have them here if we didn’t think they can do the job for us.”
–ChannelAfrica–
