Rassie Erasmus has made only two changes to his South Africa matchday squad to face France at the Stade de France on Friday, with fit-again Eben Etzebeth not included in the 23.

Wilco Louw is promoted into the starting front-row in place of Thomas du Toit following his impressive contribution from the bench in the 66-7 demolition of Italy, while Cobus Reinach replaces Grant Williams among the replacements.

Du Toit drops to the bench as part of a rotational switch, leaving the remainder of the starting XV unchanged. Lood de Jager and Ruan Nortje continue in the second-row after De Jager was drafted into the XV shortly before kick-off in Turin when Salmaan Moerat suffered back spasms.

Etzebeth arrived in France on Monday after a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury, but Erasmus has opted against immediately bringing the 147-cap lock back into his matchday squad. Franco Mostert provides the second-row cover from a six-two bench alongside Cameron Hanekom and Paul de Villiers.

The unchanged backline means Morne van den Berg and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu retain the half-back jerseys after impressing against Italy, with Ethan Hooker, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Damian Willemse forming the back three. Sixteen members of the 23 also featured when South Africa beat France 32-17 in Paris last year.

“We said from the outset that we would not rotate too much on this tour, so it was always our intention to select a settled squad for this game to build momentum in the competition,” Erasmus said.

“Most of these players have faced France at home and know what to expect from them, and they have also experienced their passionate and vocal crowd first-hand.”

On Etzebeth’s omission, Erasmus added: “Eben just arrived in France, and although we know what he brings to the team, but we feel it would be better for him to get back into the swing of things this week after some time on the sidelines.

“Lood and Franco are also very experienced players and they have been training with us for almost two weeks now after arriving in Italy the week prior to last week’s Test match. They’ve both faced France in high pressure matches and delivered, so we know what we have in them and what they will bring to the team this week.”

Explaining his two changes, Erasmus said: “Our front-rows are well settled and have all been playing together for a few seasons, so we made a rotational switch with Wilco and Thomas, while Cobus is also very familiar with the French conditions as he played club rugby here, so we thought bringing him into the mix would be good against a quality French outfit.”

“Matches between us and France are always intense, and this week will be no different.

“Both teams have everything to play for, with France leading the northern hemisphere standings and the team being ranked fourth in the world, and we are in a similar situation trying to hold onto the top spots in the respective Nations Championship hemisphere tables, so this match is vital for both sides to try to advance to the final of the competition in a few weeks.”

South Africa XV: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg; 1 Ox Nche, 2 Malcolm Marx, 3 Wilco Louw, 4 Lood de Jager, 5 Ruan Nortje, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Jasper Wiese.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.