Johan Goosen and Bryan Habana make their return and start at fullback and on the wing respectively.

The Toyota Cheetahs lock, Lood de Jager, returns from injury and is straight back into the starting XV, while his teammate, Oupa Mohoje, starts at the side of the scrum and this sees Pieter-Steph du Toit moving to the bench.

Du Toit will prove to be a valuable impact player especially with the Lions stalwart, Jaco Kriel, warming the bench with him.

Julian Redelinghuys gets his first start and will pack down in the scrum at tighthead prop while the hooker, Bongani Mbonambi, remains on the bench ahead of Malcolm Marx and serves as cover for the captain, Adriaan Strauss.

The Olympic bronze medal-winning Juan de Jongh will also get an opportunity off the bench.

Saturday’s Test match between the Springboks and the Pumas at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit kicks off at 17:05.

The Argentines are well known for their scrummaging ability and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is an area of the game where they are going to look to dominate the Springboks.

Coetzee says it’s crucial for them to stamp their authority on the set piece.

“Test match rugby will always be in the face stuff, it will be a battle of attrition first,” said Coetzee.

“It’s one thing, you can have all the good plans and magical runners and the skill sets, but if you don’t win that battle then it’s going to be a long day for you.

“We’ve got to make sure that our set piece functions as well as it should function.

“They try and get dominance at the set pieces, especially at scrum time. If you look back at last year that’s where it started.

“The free-flowing stuff started when we were on the back foot. You can’t have the free flowing rugby before you have a dominate set piece, never.”

Saturday’s Test match between the Springboks and the Pumas at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit kicks off at 17:05.

Springboks - 15 Johan Goosen, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damien de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.

Replacements – 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 2 Juan de Jongh, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Morgan Piek/OFM News