Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth are both ruled out of Saturday's Nations Championship opener against England at Ellis Park, with Pieter-Steph du Toit moving to lock and Cameron Hanekom starting at No.7.
The Springboks will face England at Ellis Park on Saturday without Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth. Kolisi sustained an injury during Friday's captain's run, while Etzebeth had not trained fully during the week.
Pieter-Steph du Toit is expected to shift to lock, with Cameron Hanekom coming in at No.7. Paul de Villiers moves into the back row to fill Kolisi's place, with Ben-Jason Dixon and Cobus Wiese set to provide cover from the bench.
Rassie Erasmus is sweating over the fitness of Ox Nché, Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and André Esterhuizen ahead of Saturday's Nations Championship match against Scotland at Loftus, after all four picked up injuries during or before the 45-21 win over England at Ellis Park.
South Africa stay top of the World Rugby Men's Rankings at 93.94 points but New Zealand have cut the gap to 2.90 after beating France, while Scotland climb to equal their all-time high of fifth following a record 47-38 win over Argentina in Córdoba.
Louw's Nations Championship round-one review crowns the Boks as the weekend's benchmark-setters and flags Japan's Italy upset as the competition's first real surprise — while taking aim at the scheduling call that denies Japan a home fixture against Ireland.
Rassie Erasmus revealed that Australia flashbacks surfaced at half-time when England closed the gap to 17-14, before the Boks ran out 45-21 winners in their Nations Championship opener, with Kolisi and Etzebeth absences handled by a system Erasmus says is being deliberately stress-tested ahead of the World Cup.
Rassie Erasmus has praised England's touring squad as young, experienced and tactically unpredictable ahead of the Nations Championship opener at Ellis Park on 4 July, while Siya Kolisi returns as captain for a fixture that marked his first Test captaincy in 2018.