South Africa make two changes for Adelaide Test against Australia

South Africa head coach head coach Jacques Nienaber has made two changes to the third round of the Rugby Championship clash against Australia to be played in Adelaide on Saturday.

Warrick Gelant starts at right wing in the place of Jesse Kriel while Makazole Mapimpi starts at left with Damian Willemse retaining his place at fullback.

Lukhanyo Am and Damian de Allende retain their places at midfield while Handre Pollard will take the kicking responsibility. Faf de Klerk has successfully completed return to play protocols after recovering from a concussion to start at scrum half taking over from Jaden Hendrikse, who now drops to the bench.

There is also changes on the bench as Elton Jantjies and Frans Steyn comes in while Willie le Roux and Jasper Wiese are left out of the matchday squad.

“This is a very important clash for us to set the tone for our Rugby Championship tour and we feel that continuity in selection is important to build momentum in our campaign,” Nienaber said.

“Warrick was in good form for the Stormers earlier this season and he has been working hard at training, so we thought it would be good to give him a run on the wing. He also combined well with Damian Willemse in the United Rugby Championship, so we are excited to see what they offer us in the match.

“Faf is back from concussion and his experience will be important. We also feel it is important to give the likes of Ox [Nche], Joseph [Dweba] and Duane [Vermeulen] another opportunity to further build combinations and give them valuable game time as we build towards the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Team line up:

South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Warrick Gelant, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba 1 Ox Nche

Reserves: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn