Bok return for Faf de Klerk, Willie le Roux and Franco Mostert

Editor

The experienced trio of Willie le Roux, Faf de Klerk and Franco Mostert are back in the Springbok starting XV for their Test against France.

The match in the French capital this Saturday is South Africa’s second fixture of the their November tour to the United Kingdom and France.

The inclusion of le Roux, de Klerk and Mostert – with close to 100 Test caps between them – are the only changes announced by Rassie Erasmus, the Springboks head coach and SA Rugby Director of Rugby, to the run-on team when he confirmed the matchday 23 on Thursday.

Le Roux takes over the 15 duties from Damian Willemse while De Klerk comes in at scrum-half to replace Ivan van Zyl, with the rest of the backline kept unchanged.

Mostert replaces Eben Etzebeth, who sustained a foot injury in last weekend’s 12-11 loss to England at Twickenham, in the only change to the pack.

Boosted by the availability of the Boks’ European-based players, Erasmus also announced three changes to the replacements. Vincent Koch (prop), Francois Louw (loose forward) and Cheslin Kolbe (utility back) are set to provide impact off the bench.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 S’bu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Cheslin Kolbe

Date: Saturday, November 10
Venue: Stade de France
Kick-off: 21:05 local (20:05 GMT)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Tom Foley (England)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)

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