Injuries sustained by full-back Aphelele Fassi and lock Lood de Jager in the first half of a 43-10 hammering of the All Blacks in Wellington this month ruled them out of the fifth round.

Damian Willemse, one of the stars of the triumph in New Zealand, moves from inside centre to replace Fassi in the No 15 shirt.

Veteran Damian de Allende fills the gap left by Willemse and forms a centre partnership with Canan Moodie. De Allende won 91 caps for the Rugby World Cup title-holders, 73 more than Moodie.

In a straight change at lock, Eben Etzebeth, the most capped Springbok with 136 Test appearances, comes in for injury-prone De Jager.

Fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, forced to retire early in Wellington with concussion, has been declared fit to face the Pumas at Kings Park in the Indian Ocean port city.

With two rounds remaining, Australia are the surprise Championship leaders with 11 points, South Africa and New Zealand have 10 each and Argentina nine.

“This is a vital match for us and the Pumas, who beat New Zealand and Australia in the first four rounds of the competition,” said Erasmus.

“They also beat the British and Irish Lions earlier in the season, so there is no doubt we will treat them with the respect they deserve.

“They have made big strides in the last few seasons, and have an astute coach in Felipe Contepomi, so we know they are going to throw everything at us.

“Adding to that, they boast a strong forward pack and extremely talented backs, so they pose threats all around.

“Similarly to us, Argentina are a tremendously proud and passionate team, and they give everything for their country.

“They know that two good results could place them in a decent position to win the competition, so it is going to be a hard grind of a match.”

Erasmus, who played key coaching roles in the back-to-back World Cup triumphs of 2019 and 2023, has also made two changes to his bench, which has a five forwards-three backs split.

Loosehead prop Boan Venter and scrum-half Moren van den Berg are promoted with hooker Marnus van der Merwe and scrum-half Grant Williams dropping out.

Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who can operate as a loosehead and a hooker, will provide cover for starting hooker Malcolm Marx.

Team

Damian Willemse; Cheslin Kolbe, Canan Moodie, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker; Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach; Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi; Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth; Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche

Replacements: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Boan Venter, Wilco Louw, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Morne van den Berg, Manie Libbok, Andre Esterhuizen

Coach: Rassie Erasmus

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