Bok lock Salmaan Moerat. (Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images)
- Salmaan Moerat will become the 66th Springbok captain when the world champions face Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
- There are seven uncapped players in the Bok match-day team.
- This will be the first Test between the Springboks and Portugal.
- For more news on the Springboks, visit our dedicated section.
Lock Salmaan Moerat will captain the Springboks for the first time when they tackle Portugal in a one-off Test in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus made wholesale changes to the team that played against Ireland, with seven uncapped players named in the match-day 23.
The uncapped players in the starting line-up are former Junior Springbok captain Phepsi Buthelezi (flanker), Johan Grobbelaar (hooker) and Jan-Hendrik Wessels (prop), while Andre-Hugo Venter (hooker), Ruan Venter (loose forward), Morne van den Berg (scrumhalf) and Quan Horn (fullback) are set to make their debuts off the bench.
Moerat, 26, becomes the 66th Springbok captain. He has already captained the Stormers, SA Schools, and the Junior Springboks.
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Only four players in the team were retained from last Saturday’s 25-24 loss to Ireland in Durban, namely Kurt-Lee Arendse (wing), RG Snyman, Moerat (both locks), and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (utility back).
Springbok team:
15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels
Substitutes: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Ruan Venter,20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Quan Horn
Erasmus heaped praise on Moerat after naming him as captain.
“Salmaan commands respect from his team-mates, so we’d like to congratulate him on this achievement, and we have no doubt that he’ll take on this responsibility as well as he has for the other teams he has led.
“He has come through the SA Rugby ranks and he went on to captain the Junior Springboks and SA Schools teams, as well as the Stormers and Western Province, which speaks volumes about his quality as a player and a captain.”
Saturday’s game will also be the first Test action of the year for Rugby World Cup winners Lukhanyo Am (centre), Manie Libbok (flyhalf), Cobus Reinach (scrumhalf), Trevor Nyakane and Thomas du Toit (props).
Furthermore, eight players were members of the match-23 that thumped Wales 41-13 in London in June. They are Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Aphelele Fassi (fullback), Makazole Mapimpi (wing), Andre Esterhuizen (centre), Evan Roos, Ben-Jason Dixon (both loose forwards), Moerat, and Ntuthuko Mchunu (prop).
“Most of the so-called younger players have been exposed to Test rugby in one way or another by either playing against Wales or Ireland or have been around the squad so they are all well aware of the standards we expect on the field and the way we do things,” added Erasmus.
“All of the uncapped players, apart from Ruan Venter, were also members of our training squad in June, and we were very impressed with the way they fitted into our structures and their work ethic. We have full faith in their abilities, and we’re excited to see what they offer on the field on Saturday.
“The squad also includes a few RWC winners and experienced campaigners, who will play a vital role in guiding the young players and keeping things calm in the pressure situations.”
Erasmus warned that Portugal should not be underestimated.
Portugal, who stunned Fiji at last year’s World Cup in France, have been steadily climbing the world rankings, rising from 27th at the start of 2019 to their present ranking of 15th.
“Portugal are a quality team as we saw with their victory against Fiji in the World Cup, while they also drew their clash against Georgia 18-18,”said Erasmus.
“It was important for us to select a quality team with a bunch of experienced players, while at the same time delivering on our objective of growing our squad depth by naming a few debutants.”
Saturday’s Test at Free State Stadium kicks off at 17:00