André Esterhuizen named Springbok captain for Wallabies test
André Esterhuizen will lead a rotated South African team in Australia as Rassie Erasmus makes 13 changes to his starting line-up that beat the All Blacks.
André Esterhuizen will become the 68th player to captain the Springboks when South Africa face Australia in Perth on Sunday.
Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus made 13 changes to the starting line-up that defeated the All Blacks in Baltimore, with only lock Eben Etzebeth and winger Ethan Hooker retaining their places in the run-on team.
The 32-year-old midfielder has emerged as a valuable hybrid option for the national side, featuring at both inside centre and flank. Erasmus believes his contribution on and off the field has earned him the honour.
“He captained the Sharks and he has brought so much to our squad. He thoroughly deserves this opportunity,” Erasmus said.
“It will also help build our leadership core even more within the team with several players having captained the side over the last few seasons, and we trust that he is the right man to take over the captaincy in this match.”
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Flyhalf Handré Pollard and utility back Canan Moodie return from injury in a much-changed team, while Erasmus has rested several players following the gruelling All Blacks series.
“Each player in this squad has been working hard at training over the last few months and has had a chance to play in either the first leg of the Nations Championship or Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, or both,” Erasmus said.
“Australia pose a completely different threat to New Zealand in the way they play, so we believe these combinations would be best suited for the challenge that we will face against them.”
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Erasmus expects a stern examination from a Wallabies side that is unbeaten in four matches under coach Les Kiss.
“They are a proud nation and will certainly want to continue building momentum,” he said.
“They have physical forwards and a very exciting backline, so it will take another big performance from us to get the result.”
SPRINGBOKS – 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen (c), 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Bench: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Quan Horn.
The post Rassie backs André the Giant appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
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