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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
I’m sick to death of waiting 3 years for league players to become half decent. It cripples Australian rugby in the meantime. The Reds actually looked half competent without Vunivalu not starting last week. He’s just a liability of errors. Paisami is looking better than he has in previous years but I’d have Kerevi back in a flash. A kiwi wont tho …...
Go to commentsExcellent analysis Nick as we have come to expect. I was not really aware that NFL strategies have been adopted by rugby teams, especially in defence. One point I would make is that the Northhampton attacking player on the end of the chain in the video examples has not maintained the correct depth to be effective. In the footage shown the outside player is too flat to make the best of the opportunity his inside players have provided. In each case they have to reduce speed and turn their body backwards to secure the ball, losing all momentum and giving the impressive scrambling defence the chance to shut down the threat.
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