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Nizaam Carr to make run-on debut for Boks against Italy

Florence - Stormers flank Nizaam Carr will make his run-on debut for the Springboks when they take on Italy at the Artemio Franchi Stadium on Saturday.

Carr is one of two changes to the starting lineup‚ which also sees Bryan Habana return in place of JP Pietersen‚ from the side that lost 37-21 to England at Twickenham last week.

With lock Eben Etzebeth ruled out of the match due to concussion‚ Pieter-Steph du Toit returns to the second row after playing flank a week ago. Carr will form a new back row with Willem Alberts moving to blindside flank after operating at openside last week and Warren Whiteley retaining his place at No 8.

In all there are five changes to the 23-man squad.

The bench shows three changes with prop Trevor Nyakane‚ flank Teboho Mohoje and flyhalf Elton Jantjies taking the places of Lourens Adriaanse‚ Carr and Lionel Mapoe respectively.

“Nizaam has played openside before and he was good off the bench last week‚” coach Allister Coetzee said.

“We’ve got to win the race to the ball this week. Italy go hard with low tackles and the next man in over the ball‚ so we hope 'Nemo' [Carr] does well.

“Continuity is key and although we are not getting the results there is progress. We have kept the same combinations in an effort to continue building combinations at centre and halfback in particular.

“The changes on the bench are necessary because we need rotation and also to bring some impact.

“Eben [Etzebeth] is out so we had to make the change. I had to move Pieter-Steph to lock‚ so he is a bit of utility forward at the moment.

“But he brings a huge work rate‚ so we need him.”

Springboks: 15-Willie le Roux‚ 14-Ruan Combrinck‚ 13-Francois Venter‚ 12-Damian de Allende‚ 11-Bryan Habana‚ 10-Pat Lambie‚ 9-Rudy Paige‚ 8-Warren Whiteley‚ 7-Willem Alberts‚ 6-Nizaam Carr‚ 5-Lood de Jager‚ 4-Pieter-Steph du Toit‚ 3-Vincent Koch‚ 2-Adriaan Strauss (capt)‚ 1-Tendai Mtawarira. Reserves: 16-Bongi Mbonambi‚ 17-Steven Kitshoff‚ 18-Trevor Nyakane‚ 19-Franco Mostert‚ 20-Teboho Mohoje‚ 21-Faf de Klerk‚ 22-Elton Jantjies. 23-Johan Goosen.

- TMG Sport

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