Overview
- South Africa withdrew prop Ox Nche on Friday with an unspecified injury ahead of Saturday’s Rugby Championship match in Durban.
- Boan Venter moves from the bench to start at loosehead prop alongside Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit in the front row.
- Marco van Staden is named among the replacements as hooker cover, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels listed as the back-up prop.
- Van Staden is primarily a loose-forward but has filled the hooker role on occasion, a flexibility the coaches are leveraging.
- With two rounds remaining, Australia lead on 11 points, South Africa and New Zealand have 10, and Argentina have nine, heightening the stakes of the fixture.