Springboks forced into late bench replacement ahead of Australia clash

JOHANNESBURG :South Africa have been forced into a late change to their bench for Saturday’s opening Rugby Championship test against Australia at Ellis Park in Johannesburg with prop Boan Venter replacing the injured Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Wessels was injured in training on Wednesday and has not recovered in time and will be replaced by Venter, who made his Springboks debut against Georgia last month.

Venter joins fellow prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye and experienced hooker Bongi Mbonambi as the front row replacements, with South Africa opting for a 5-3 split between forwards and backs on the bench, diminishing the effectiveness of their so-called ‘Bomb Squad’ of forward replacements.

Updated South Africa team:

15–Aphelele Fassi, 14–Edwill van der Merwe, 13–Jesse Kriel, 12–Andre Esterhuizen, 11–Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10–Manie Libbok, 9–Grant Williams, 8–Siya Kolisi (captain), 7–Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6–Marco van Staden, 5–Lood de Jager, 4–Eben Etzebeth, 3–Wilco Louw, 2–Malcolm Marx, 1–Ox Nche

Replacements: 16–Bongi Mbonambi, 17–Boan Venter, 18–Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19–Franco Mostert, 20–Kwagga Smith, 21–Cobus Reinach, 22–Canan Moodie, 23–Damian Willemse.