Thursday 20 November 2014 11:58, UK
South Africa have made four changes to the side that beat England for Saturday’s Test against Italy in Padova.
Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer has also made five changes to the replacements’ bench following the 31-28 success at Twickenham last weekend.
Trevor Nyakane will start his first Test at loosehead prop after winning 11 caps as a replacement, while Coenie Oosthuizen has been promoted from the bench to replace the injured Jannie du Plessis at tighthead.
Teboho Mohoje returns at flanker in place of Schalk Burger and Johan Goosen will start at full-back with Willie le Roux rested.
Loose forward Nizaam Carr and prop Julian Redelinghuys have both been included in the matchday 23 for the first time after being named on the bench, while prop Gurthro Steenkamp, lock Lood de Jager and Le Roux are also among the replacements.
"I'm excited to see what these guys can do on Saturday in what will be a stern test against a fired-up Italy," Meyer said.
“The Italian pack is always formidable and their backs are not scared of taking chances. Our focus is to show improvements from our performance at Twickenham and we know it will be a big challenge on Saturday.
"We planned to make a few shifts for this Test as I'd like to see if these players can make the step up. The guys coming in deserve their opportunities and seeing that we won't have our overseas-based players available next week against Wales, it made sense to bring a few of them in this week."
Meanwhile, Meyer has drafted in Bulls scrum-half Rudy Paige and Lions fly-half Marnitz Boshoff for the Test against Wales in Cardiff next weekend when the Springboks will be without their overseas-based players.
South Africa: 15 Johan Goosen, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (capt), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach; 1 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Teboho Mohojoe, 8 Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: 16 Bismark du Plessis, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Willie le Roux.
Watch Italy v South Africa live on Sky Sports 2 at 2pm on Saturday
