Springboks change 14 for Portugal with 7 debutants

South Africa have made 14 changes to their starting XV to face Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday from the one that lost to Ireland.

Three members of Rassie Erasmus' starting XV are set to make their debuts- loosehead prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels, hooker Johan Grobbelaar and flanker Phepsi Buthelezi.

A further four more could make their deubts from the bench- hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, flanker Ruan Venter, scrumhalf Morne van den Berg and fullback Quan Horn.

Winger Kurt-Lee Arendse is the sole survivor from the 25-24 loss to Andy Farrell's side in Durban.

Locks Salmaan Moerat and RG Snyman are the two other members from the 1-1 series with Ireland in the starting XV. The pair had previously been part of the Bomb Squad.

Stormers lock Moerat will lead the Springboks for the first time in his career.

For the third consecutive match, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will take his place on the bench, which on this occasion has a 5-3 split.

“Portugal are a quality team as we saw with their victory against Fiji in the RWC, while they also drew their clash against Georgia 18-18,” said Erasmus.

“It was important for us to select a quality team with a bunch of experienced players, while at the same time delivering on our objective of growing our squad depth by naming a few debutants.”

South Africa XV

15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) - 4 caps, 10 points (2t)

14 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) - 17 caps, 70 points (14t)

13 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) - 35 caps, 30 pts (6t)

12 – Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks) - 17 caps, 0 pts

11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) - 42 caps, 135 points (27t)

10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) - 14 caps, 87 pts (1t, 26c, 10p)

9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) - 32 caps, 65 pts (13t)

8 – Evan Roos (DHL Stormers) - 6 caps, 0 points

7 – Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers) – 1 cap, 0 points

6 – Phepsi Buthelezi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) - uncapped

5 – RG Snyman (Leinster) - 36 caps, 10 points (2t)

4 – Salmaan Moerat (captain, DHL Stormers) - 6 caps, 0 points

3 – Thomas du Toit (Bath) - 18 caps, 0 pts

2 – Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls) - uncapped

1 – Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) - uncapped

Replacements

16 – Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers) - uncapped

17 – Ntuthuko Mchunu (Hollywoodbets Sharks) - 2 caps, 0 points

18 – Trevor Nyakane (Hollywoodbets Sharks) - 67 caps, 5 pts (1t)

19 – Ruan Venter (Emirates Lions) - uncapped

20 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 0 points

21 – Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions) – uncapped

22 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) - 3 caps, 7 points (2c, 1p)

23 – Quan Horn (Emirates Lions) – uncapped