The Junior Boks have made six changes to their starting lineup to face Argentina in the third-place playoff of the World Rugby U20 Championship.
No 8 Junior Pokomela will lead the side in the absence of fellow Grey High old boy, centre and captain Jeremy Ward, who is serving a two-week suspension for a dangerous tackle in Monday’s semi-final against England. Inside centre JT Jackson will take on the vice-captaincy ahead of second-choice vice-captain Ernst van Rhyn, who has been replaced at openside flank by Cobus Wiese.
The Junior Boks will feature an all-new front row with props Franco van den Berg, Carlü Sadie and Jan-Henning Campher starting ahead of Nicolaas Oosthuizen, Jaco Holtzhausen and Tango Balekile. Oosthuizen and Balekile have been named on the bench.
In the backline, Franco Naude will replace Ward at outside centre while Stedman Gans makes his first start on the wing ahead of Mosolwa Mafuma, who has been left out of the match 23.
On the replacements bench, Denzel Hill comes in for Cobus Wiese while new arrival Benhard Janse van Rensburg steps in for Naude.
Saturday's third-place playoff takes place at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford, with kick-off at 15:30 SA time.
Junior Boks – 15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Stedman Gans, 13 Franco Naude, 12 JT Jackson, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 8 Junior Pokomela (c), 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Zain Davids, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Ruben de Villiers, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Jan-Henning Campher, 1 Franco van den Berg.
Subs: 16 Tango Balekile, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 19 Eduard Zandberg, 20 Denzel Hill, 21 James Hall, 22 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 23 Keanu Vers.
Photo: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
