Rassie Erasmus has conceded that the Springbok team named for the second Rugby's Greatest Rivalry Test in Cape Town is not the one he would have chosen under ideal circumstances, with injury and the series deficit combining to shape a six-change matchday 23.
Cheslin Kolbe and Grant Williams have both been ruled out, replaced by Ethan Hooker and Cobus Reinach respectively, while Deon Fourie, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Cameron Hanekom and Morne van der Berg come into the squad. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu drops to the bench, with Handre Pollard starting at fly-half and Manie Libbok omitted entirely.
"To be honest with you, we had a little bit of a different team in mind," Erasmus told reporters on Monday. "We hoped that Canan [Moodie] would be fit. I would have loved to play Cheslin again. There are a couple of changes that we wouldn't have made and others that we wanted to make, but because of our injury situation and because we didn't get winning momentum, it's tough to make more changes. I would say three are injury-forced."
Erasmus also acknowledged that his own decision-making from the coaching box contributed to the Johannesburg defeat, specifically citing a moment when South Africa, trailing 16-13 with a scrum in front of the poles, opted against the kick at goal. "A lot of the messages came from me at the top," he said. "Two points is three points is two less than five. We were 16-13 under the poles and we make a mistake — we could have kicked the kick over."
The Pollard selection mirrors last year's pattern, when Erasmus turned to the 32-year-old for the Cape Town Test after the Ellis Park loss to Australia. Erasmus was explicit that the wet forecast and Kolbe's absence drove the call, with placekicking reliability a key factor. "It's going to be a wet-ish week. Handre has always been the guy who does it for us. He grew up there; it's his hometown."
Libbok's omission draws sympathy from the coach, who was quick to frame it as temporary. "I feel bad for Manie, but we know he is still going to play in the next three matches after this one."