Springboks’ 10-player team overhaul no disrespect says 32-test Wallaby

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Wallabies lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto isn’t taking South Africa’s wholesale changes for the second Rugby Championship test against his side too personally.

The Springboks made 10 changes to the starting lineup that beat the Wallabies 33-7 in Brisbane last week.

Among the players rested for Saturday’s test in Perth are captain Siya Kolisi, props Frans Malherbe and Gerhard Steenekamp, hooker Bongi Mbonambi, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, winger Kurt-Lee Arendse, center Damian de Allende and fullback Willie le Roux.

Flanker Ben-Jason Dixon and R.G. Snyman were ruled out with injuries. Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg and lock Ruan Nortje will earn their first test starts for the World Cup-champion Springboks.

Although the bench has plenty of experience, there are only a combined 30 caps among positions one to five in the starting lineup.

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus played down talk that the changes were a sign of disrespect towards the Wallabies, saying he made the move to further develop his squad’s depth ahead of the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

“If you look at this team, there are 14 World Cup winners and there’s only two guys that are new caps,” Erasmus said. “So this is not disrespect to Australia, and this is not us feeling nonchalant about the game.”

Salakaia-Loto, who has played 32 tests for Australia, said he and his teammates don’t have any issues with their opponent’s overhaul.

“Look, it’s no disrespect at all,” he said. “Their depth is a big reason why they’re back-to-back champs. The challenge for us is to come in and put in a much better performance than last week.

“Their game plan hasn’t changed over the past eight years. The challenge is how do you stop that, and can you stop that?”

The Wallabies had two wins over Wales and a victory over Georgia to start Joe Schmidt’s reign as coach. But the streak ended when the Wallabies were seriously outclassed in Brisbane.

“As players, we weren’t good enough,” Salakaia-Loto said. “There were definitely some lessons learned. It’s been a tough week for us. We’ve just got to do our jobs better, individually and collectively.”

On Thursday, Schmidt recalled 59-test veteran Marika Koroibete to the starting side in a revamped team. Koroibete was named in the back three alongside Andrew Kellaway and Tom Wright for his first appearance since last year’s World Cup.

“There’s some continuity and freshness in this team after a very physical test last weekend,” Schmidt said. “The reality is that we need to be more combative and accurate this Saturday.”

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