Heyneke Meyer makes five changes in South Africa side for Wales clash

South Africa have made five changes to their starting XV for Saturday's Test match against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Willie le Roux, Cornal Hendricks and Lwazi Mvovo return to Heyneke Meyer's team, the changes coming through a mixture of injury and squad rotation.

Le Roux, Hendricks and Mvovo come into the back three in the absence of Johan Goosen, Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen, who all started the 22-6 win over Italy last weekend.

Prop Mtawarira and hooker du Plessis replace Trevor Nyakane and Adriaan Strauss, who take places on the bench along with Damien de Allende who was not part of the squad in Padova.

Execution

"This tour has been a good test of our depth and we’re looking forward to see what the team can do on Saturday," Meyer said.

"We will face a fired-up Welsh side this weekend. They played very well against New Zealand and it will be a tough end to our season, but we want to finish on a high and the focus this week has been on ensuring we keep on building on what we’ve done thus far this year.

"All the players coming into the team have been part of our squad for most of the season. They know our plans and structures and now it’s about execution on Saturday.

"The way we see it is that a lot of these guys are right on the edge of World Cup selection.

"This Test is an opportunity for a lot of these youngsters and ones on the edge to show what they can do and for the experienced players to step up.

Meyer also confirmed scrum-half Rudy Paige suffered a medial knee ligament injury in training on Tuesday and will be out of action for three to four weeks.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornall Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 8 Duane Vermeulen.

Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Handré Pollard, 23 Damian de Allende