Tendai Mtawarira, Bongi Mbonambi retained for Italy clash

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South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has retained Tendai Mtawarira and Bongi Mbonambi in his starting XV to face Italy in Shizuoka on Friday.

Mtawarira and Mbonambi have been rewarded for strong performances against Namibia last Saturday, and keep their places at loosehead prop and hooker respectively, ahead of Steven Kitshoff and Malcolm Marx, who started the 23-13 defeat to New Zealand on September 21.

Second-row Lood de Jager, who was the player of the match in the 57-3 victory over Namibia, also retains his position, with two locks, Franco Mostert and RG Snyman, among six forwards on the bench.

“We give their pack absolute respect,” said Springboks forwards coach Matthew Proudfoot. “Their forwards coach is very sharp, and our guys have already been on to me about plans as they have seen how sharp Italy are.

“This isn’t just one guy dominating a plan. We will have to be very smart as a pack of forwards and have very good plans.”

Lukhanyo Am and Makazole Mapimpi start their third straight matches at outside centre and left wing respectively, with Herschel Jantjies and Frans Steyn the only backs named among the replacements.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 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 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Francois Louw, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn

Date: Friday, October 4
Venue: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa
Kick-off: 18:45 local (10:45 BST, 09:45 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant Referees: Romain Poite (France), Alexandre Ruiz (France)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)

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