A late change to the matchday-23 has forced the Springboks to replace substitute Willie le Roux with a forward for the clash against the All Blacks at Twickenham.
An hour before the match kicked off on Friday night, the Springboks confirmed that Le Roux, one of two backline players on the bench, had been ruled out with an unspecified niggle suffered at training.
Late change to the #Springboks team: Willie le Roux has not recovered sufficiently from a niggle suffered at training and has been withdrawn from the squad for tonight’s match, with Kwagga Smith being drafted onto the bench 🚨#StrongerTogether #RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/uy83ccOHJx
— Springboks (@Springboks) August 25, 2023
Instead of replacing Le Roux with another back, Jacques Nienaber decided to call in loose forward Kwagga Smith.
This means that the Springboks, for the first time, will go into a Test match with a bench featuring a split between forwards and just one back.
Veteran scrumhalf Cobus Reinach is the only out-and-out substitute backline player.
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