Salmaan Moerat captains new-look Springbok team to face Portugal

Lock Salmaan Moerat will captain the Springboks for the first time when they tackle Portugal in a one-off Test in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus made wholesale changes to the team that played against Ireland, with seven uncapped players named in the match-day 23. 

The uncapped players in the starting line-up are former Junior Springbok captain Phepsi Buthelezi (flanker), Johan Grobbelaar (hooker) and Jan-Hendrik Wessels (prop), while Andre-Hugo Venter (hooker), Ruan Venter (loose forward), Morne van den Berg (scrumhalf) and Quan Horn (fullback) are set to make their debuts off the bench. 

Moerat, 26, becomes the 66th Springbok captain. He has already captained the Stormers, SA Schools, and the Junior Springboks. 

Lungani Zama | A shared series is good for the Boks

Only four players in the team were retained from last Saturday's 25-24 loss to Ireland in Durban, namely Kurt-Lee Arendse (wing), RG Snyman, Moerat (both locks), and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (utility back).

15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels

Substitutes: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Ruan Venter,20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Quan Horn

Erasmus heaped praise on Moerat after naming him as captain.

"Salmaan commands respect from his team-mates, so we'd like to congratulate him on this achievement, and we have no doubt that he'll take on this responsibility as well as he has for the other teams he has led. 

"He has come through the SA Rugby