{"id":2240,"date":"2025-11-27T11:32:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T11:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=2240"},"modified":"2025-11-27T11:32:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T11:32:53","slug":"wales-v-south-africa-springboks-go-with-7-1-bench-split-for-cardiff-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=2240","title":{"rendered":"Wales v South Africa: Springboks go with 7-1 bench split for Cardiff Test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Hooker Johan Grobbelaar, props Wilco Louw and Gerhard Steenekamp, lock Jean Kleyn and Franco Mostert &#8211; at blind-side flanker rather than lock &#8211; come into a hefty pack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Scrum-half Morne van den Berg, centre Andre Esterhuizen and wing Ethan Hooker get the nod in the backs with Erasmus going for power on a bench which includes legendary lock Eben Etzebeth along the seven replacement forwards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">South Africa start as overwhelming favourites to add to their victories against Japan, Italy, France and Ireland given their depth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We knew from the outset that we would lose players for this match due to their club commitments, and we are pleased with the quality of the team we&#8217;ve selected,&#8221; said Erasmus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve been rotating our players throughout the year, and this group has been together for close to five weeks, so many of these combinations are fully settled.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Scrum-half Cobus Reinach &#8211; the only back on the bench &#8211; is in line to win his 50th cap.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Thirteen of Wales&#8217; squad have returned to their English and French clubs, Steve Tandy&#8217;s side having conceded half-centuries to both Argentina and New Zealand this autumn with his first-choice line-up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Both teams were in a similar situation with regards to the availability of players, but they have a balanced squad with a few seasoned players and several younger guys who will be desperate to make a statement,&#8221; said Erasmus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;So, we are expecting them to come out firing and to throw everything at us.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hooker Johan Grobbelaar, props Wilco Louw and Gerhard Steenekamp, lock Jean Kleyn and Franco Mostert &#8211; at blind-side flanker rather than lock &#8211; come into a hefty pack. Scrum-half Morne van den Berg, centre Andre Esterhuizen and wing Ethan Hooker get the nod in the backs with Erasmus going for power on a bench which<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}