Allister Coetzee makes three changes to Springboks squad to face Australia

Springboks coach Allister Coetzee unsurprisingly made three changes to the starting lineup to face Australia in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

So in comes wing Dillyn Leyds for his first Test start‚ flank Francois Louw and scrumhalf Ross Cronje.

Leyds replaces the axed Raymond Rhule while Cronje‚ who was originally set to start against the All Blacks before illness sidelined him‚ replaces Francois Hougaard who was also cut from the squad.

Louw has been included at open-side flank with Jean-Luc du Preez who started at blindside against the All Blacks dropping to the bench with Siya Kolisi swapping places on the side of the scrum.

That means Lood de Jager falls out of the squad with Pieter-Steph du Toit preferred as the lock reserve after being used as loose-forward cover two weeks ago.

Hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle‚ who replaces Bongi Mbonambi on the bench‚ makes his first appearance for the Springboks since 2013.

Leyds featured off the bench in the three Test series against France but was left out for the opening four rounds of the Championship.

After Rhule’s problems on defence‚ which culminated in missing nine tackles against the All Blacks and 18 in total in four games‚ Leyds will be asked to shore up the right side of the back three.

Leyds‚ 25‚ had decent tackle stats during Super Rugby that saw him miss 19 tackles the entire season.

His real strength though is on attack where he made 18 line-breaks in Super Rugby and 1348 metres from 124 ball carries – a very effective return.

“Raymond Rhule has not been discarded‚ but a player like Dillyn Leyds has been knocking on the door and playing well‚” Coetzee said.

“Raymond does a lot of things well‚ but the reality is he has to work on his defence. I’m excited to see what Dillyn will bring this weekend.

“Francois Louw has showed his experience at training and he understands his role and responsibility that gives the other players confidence.

“This is a fantastic Wallaby team with a lot of experience so with Jaco Kriel injured‚ we needed an extra man to play to the ball."

South Africa:

15-Andries Coetzee; 14-Dillyn Leyds‚ 13-Jesse Kriel‚ 12 Jan Serfontein‚ 11-Courtnall Skosan; 10-Elton Jantjies‚ 9-Ross Cronje; 8-Uzair Cassiem‚ 7-Francois Louw‚ 6-Siya Kolisi‚ 5-Franco Mostert‚ 4-Eben Etzebeth (capt)‚ 3-Ruan Dreyer‚ 2-Malcolm Marx‚ 1-Tendai Mtawarira.

Reserves:

16-Chiliboy Ralepelle‚ 17-Steven Kitshoff‚ 18-Trevor Nyakane‚ 19-Pieter-Steph du Toit‚ 20-Jean-Luc du Preez‚ 21-Rudy Paige‚ 22-Handre Pollard‚ 23-Damian de Allende.

 - TimesLIVE