Sir Gareth Edwards urges Wales to give much-changed Springboks ‘good tonking’

Sir Gareth Edwards believes Wales have been disrespected by world champions South Africa over the Springboks’ second Test team selection.

Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has made 14 changes from the line-up that edged past Wales 32-29 in a thrilling series opener decided by Damian Willemse’s penalty with the game’s final kick.

He has named two uncapped players in the starting XV – wing Kurt-Lee Arendse and number eight Evan Roos – and four more among the replacements.

Only lock Eben Etzebeth remains from Pretoria, with Nienaber stating that he “needed to strike a balance between giving our talented young players an opportunity to show what they can do at international level, and winning”.

Nienaber’s line-up contains a total of 393 caps, but 321 of those Test appearances are shared by just five players in Etzebeth, fly-half Handre Pollard, centre Jesse Kriel, prop Trevor Nyakane and flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit.

Such an approach has cut little ice with Wales great Edwards, who also feels the clash in Bloemfontein on Saturday has been partly devalued.

“The big disappointment for me was to learn South Africa are going to change virtually their whole team,” Edwards said.

“They have got every right to prepare for the World Cup, but I would really like to know what their logic is in changing so many.

“I suppose the only way they can justify it is if they win. I think it shows a little bit of disrespect.

“If there had been five or six changes, you would maybe have raised an eyebrow. But 14 changes, it’s overwhelming.

“I don’t think it shows respect for Wales and, looking logically, there is only one way (for Wales) to view it and that’s to give them a good ‘tonking’, as they say.

It is a great opportunity to beat them