AUDIO: Italy coach raves about Boks' amazing rotation
LISTEN as Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada speaks about the changes in the Springbok side that his team will face on Saturday in Gqeberha.
Italy made five changes to their matchday squad for the second of the two-Test series against the world champions.
The Italians made the Boks work hard after showing an incredible fightback during the second half last weekend at Loftus Versfeld from being 28-3 down at half-time.
Meanwhile, Bok head coach Rassie Erasmus made 11 changes to his starting line-up for the mini series decider, and named three debutants on the bench in Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cobus Wiese and Ethan Hooker.
* To see Italy’s full team announcement, CLICK HERE!
Quesada addressed the media on Thursday and had nothing but praise for Erasmus’ selections, saying that he expects the new-look Bok backline to come out firing this weekend.
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“It’s an amazing rotation. With the clarity Rassie and his staff provide the players, I’m sure this group knew two weeks ago that they would play in the second Test and vice versa for the team from last week.
“I’m sure in training they’ve been working as a unit for a couple of weeks in preparation for the second Test.
“Regarding the selection of [Canan] Moodie, [Manie] Libbok, [Makazole] Mapimpi and [Edwill] van der Merwe – they are players that know that they’ll need to impress to be considered for the upcoming Rugby Championship and other big games.
“I can imagine that there’s a plan for the future. The Bok selection has a good balance of experienced players and those who want to use the opportunity to put their hands up ahead of the Rugby Championship.
“The combination of Grant Williams and Manie Libbok that played together against England [last year] is an indication that the Boks will try and move the ball a bit more.”
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