Springboks change four to face England at Twickenham; Makazole Mapimpi, Eben Etzebeth return | Rugby Union News

Makazole Mapimpi, Eben Etzebeth, Jesse Kriel, Evan Roos come in to start for South Africa vs England; Cheslin Kolbe, Andre Esterhuizen, Salmaan Moerat, Jasper Wiese drop out of the squad; Thomas du Toit, Marco van Staden, Jaden Hendrikse, Canon Moodie come onto bench

Second row Eben Etzebeth is among those to return to the Springboks side to face England

South Africa have made four changes from the side that defeated Italy to take on England at Twickenham on Saturday, with experienced duo Makazole Mapimpi and Eben Etzebeth among those returning.

Wing Mapimpi, second row Etzebeth, centre Jesse Kriel and No 8 Evan Roos come in to start, in place of Cheslin Kolbe, Andre Esterhuizen, Salmaan Moerat and Jasper Wiese.

There are two further positional changes as Damian de Allende shifts from outside-centre back to his favoured inside-centre, while Kurt-Lee Arendse swaps from the left wing back to the right.

With Saturday’s Test falling outside the official Test window, Toulon’s Kolbe, Harlequins’ Esterhuizen, Montpellier’s Cobus Reinach, Leicester’s Wiese and Stade Francais’ Vincent Koch are unavailable, having returned to their clubs.

Cheslin Kolbe is one of five players to have returned to clubs in Europe, due to the Test falling outside the international window

Among the replacements, there are four further changes as tighthead Thomas du Toit, back-row Marco van Staden, scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse and wing Canon Moodie are brought into the squad.

“With this Test falling outside the international Test window, we knew we would have to make changes to the team, but we are pleased with the depth we have built in the wider squad in the last few months, and it is paying off for us this week,” head coach Jacques Nienaber said.

“Every player in this squad has played Test rugby, and most of them have received game time at this level thanks to our selection plan throughout the season and the games against Munster and Bristol.

“We are very excited to see what this group of players will do against a quality England side given the mix of talented young players who have been putting up their hands and the experienced guys who have come a long way with us over the last few years.”

Head coach Jacques Nienaber spoke of the challenge of playing at Twickenham

South Africa followed defeats to Ireland and France this month with victory over Italy last week.

Nienaber added: “As with all competitions we can only select a limited number of players, so we have had to be creative with balancing building player combinations and giving the young players a chance to show us what they can do at top Test level and this game gives us a golden opportunity to do so.

“It doesn’t get bigger than playing against England at a packed Twickenham in the last Test of the season for a player, and one can sense the excitement among the players about this occasion.

“England will enter this match with the same mindset as us – to finish the season on a high note after a tough November campaign, and to build momentum with an eye on the World Cup.

“So, we are expecting them to throw everything they have at us. They are a well-balanced team with a strong pack of forwards and exciting backs, and they are well coached, so we know it is going to be an epic encounter.

Ireland beat South Africa three weeks ago, before the Boks lost to France a week on

“We lost against them by one point in our last two matches at Twickenham and the last time we beat them in London was in 2014, so we have to be accurate in all areas of our game, effective in our execution and we need to convert our chances into points.

“This is the last time the squad will be together in competition until next June, so the players really want to make the most of this opportunity and to make the country proud.

“We had two narrow defeats against the top two teams in the world in Ireland and France and we defeated Italy, and it would be fantastic if we could finish the tour on a high note.”

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Faf de Klerk; 1 Ox Nche, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Marvin Orie, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Franco Mostert, 8 Evan Roos.

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Canan Moodie.