Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus has made just one alteration to his starting line-up for their Test with Argentina in Mendoza on Saturday.
The return of Franco Mostert at lock is the only change to South Africa’s run-on side which faced los Pumas in their Rugby Championship opener in Durban last weekend.
Mostert was rested for that victory over in Durban following his heavy workload so far this year. He will form a second-row partnership with Eben Etzebeth, which sees Pieter-Steph du Toit moving to the bench as cover.
There are two more changes amongst the forward replacements. RG Snyman (lock) makes a return to the matchday 23 in place of Marvin Orie, who is not touring, while Wilco Louw (prop) rotates places with Thomas du Toit.
Erasmus explained the inclusion of Mostert in the starting XV, saying: “Franco needed rest after Super Rugby and the June internationals and we therefore didn’t consider him for Durban. He’s been our first-choice No 5 lock and that’s why is starting on Saturday.”
Erasmus kept his backline unchanged and also resisted the temptation to tweak his loose forward combination.
“I want to us to build more continuity and those combinations now have another opportunity to play together and gain more experience,” he added.
Regarding Saturday’s challenge against Argentina, Erasmus said: “We’ve always rated them as a very physical team and we felt the game (in Durban) was physical. They’re going to step it up and I think they will come hard at our mauling, scrums and the breakdowns.”
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 André Esterhuizen, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Siya Kolisi (c), 6 Francois Louw, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Damian Willemse
Date: Saturday, August 25
Venue: Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza
Kick-off: 16:10 local (20:10 BST, 19:10 GMT)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Andrew Brace (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)