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Am to captain powerful South Africa A full of World Cup winners against Lions
By Josh Raisey
South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber has named a South Africa A side loaded with World Cup winners to face the British and Irish Lions this Wednesday in Cape Town.
After South Africa's contest with Georgia was cancelled last weekend, their A side has been filled with Test stars, while director of rugby Rassie Erasmus says he hopes to add another fixture for the side.
World Cup winning centre Lukhanyo Am is set to captain the side in place of Siya Kolisi, in a side that features seven players in the starting XV that started against England in the World Cup final.
“We’re pleased to be able to name a quality team with a number of experienced players despite the challenges in the last week, which included the entire squad being confined to their rooms as part of the team’s preventative self-isolation measures,” said Nienaber.
"Our situation is not so much to do with gelling at the moment, it is match fitness," Erasmus said.
"Our match fitness in terms of when some guys last played is a bit of a worry.
"We needed two Test matches and a SA A match to be ready."
South Africa A
15 – Willie le Roux
14 – Cheslin Kolbe
13 – Lukhanyo Am
12 – Damian de Allende
11 – Sbu Nkosi
10 – Morné Steyn
9 – Faf de Klerk
8 – Jasper Wiese
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit
6 – Marco van Staden
5 – Franco Mostert
4 – Eben Etzebeth
3 – Trevor Nyakane
2 – Joseph Dweba
1 – Steven Kitshoff
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx
17 – Coenie Oosthuizen
18 – Vincent Koch
19 – Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg
20 – Rynhardt Elstadt
21 – Herschel Jantjies
22 – Jesse Kriel
23 – Damian Willemse
24 – Kwagga Smith
25 – Elton Jantjies
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Latest Comments
Vaai is finally having his breakout year getting comfortable and showing great form at lock, and there are form players and experience all across the backrow, why on earth would you drop him to 6. Ridiculous
Go to commentsSo far, the All Blacks have won 8 matches out of 11 this year. That is a near 73% win rate. AB fans and, I assume, the team itself are not content with that and have everything to play for with the remaining 3 tests this year.
Their historical average is something like 77% these days and, although some years will always be better than others it is not likely to drop that dramatically to 70% any time soon. There is too much historical inertia on the stats. It is like saying Ireland’s form of the last 10 years or so is likely to reverse a historical average of 48% wins soon. It just isn’t.
Moreover, when you say they are ‘doomed’ to a 70% flatline are you not just assuming that Ireland will beat them again? How did that work out for you last time?
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