Eben Etzebeth returns for South Africa as Springboks make fly half decision for England clash
· Yahoo Sports
Eben Etzebeth will make an instant return to the South Africa starting side against England after suspension, with Manie Libbok trusted by the Springboks at fly half.
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Etzebeth was handed a long ban after being sent for an eye gouge in his last Test against Wales, and has featured only once since for the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship.
But Rassie Erasmus has immediately thrown his most-capped player back into the second row alongside Ruan Nortje as South Africa begin their Nations Championship campaign in Johannesburg.
With Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu sidelined by injury, Libbok is preferred to Handre Pollard at fly half, while Cheslin Kolbe and Damian Willemse win their 50th caps in the back three.
Manie Libbok will start at fly half against England (Getty)Siya Kolisi captains a familiar-looking side full of World Cup winners with Erasmus looking forward to an encounter with an England side arriving at Ellis Park on a run of four consecutive Six Nations defeats.
“England are a quality outfit, and we are expecting them to give everything they have in this match, so it was important to select a squad with experience combined with a few younger players, who have proved that they have what it takes to perform at this level,” said Erasmus.
“The players have worked very hard at training, and they know what it takes to perform against a side of this calibre with a good coaching team, so we hope they can transfer that effort onto the field on Saturday.
Rassie Erasmus is looking forward to taking on England (Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)“England are a settled team, they come off a Six Nations campaign earlier in the season, and, similarly to us, they will also want to have a good start to this exciting new competition, so we are expecting it to be a bruising encounter.”
Etzebeth’s immediate return comes with locks Franco Mostert and Lood de Jager unavailable due to a niggle and illness respectively, while RG Snyman is a longer-term injury absentee.
There are five specialist forwards on the bench, though centre Andre Esterhuizen has featured regularly in the back row over the last 12 months.
The Springboks also face Wales and Scotland in the next few weeks as they seek a successful start to the new competition which straddles the July and November international windows.
South Africa XV to face England in Johannesburg (Saturday 4 July, 4.40pm BST): 1 Ox Nche, 2 Malcolm Marx, 3 Thomas du Toit; 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Ruan Nortje; 6 Siya Kolisi (capt.), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Jasper Wiese; 9 Grant Williams, 10 Manie Libbok; 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 12 Damian de Allende, 13 Jesse Kriel, 14 Cheslin Kolbe; 15 Damian Willemse.
Replacments: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Cameron Hanekom; 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Andre Esterhuizen, 23 Canan Moodie.
