LIVE: Junior Springboks vs Junior Wallabies – Tuesday, 7 May 2024

JF van Heerden will captain a Junior Springbok side showing several changes when they take on Australia in the second round of the Under-20 Rugby Championship at the Sunshine Coast Stadium in Bokarina, Queensland on Tuesday, 7 May.

Kick-off is at 11:00 (SA time).

Van Heerden takes over the captaincy from Zachary Porthen, who has been ruled out of contention for this match due to a hand injury he sustained in the 13-13 draw against NewZealand last week.

SA U20 head coach Bafana Nhleko announced a starting line-up showing nine changes and a positional switch, while there are a further six tweaks amongst the replacements from the match 23 that did duty against the Kiwis.

Van Heerden, who came off the bench against NZ, starts the match as skipper next to Bathobele Hlekani, who was at flanker last week, in a new-look second row.

Divan Fuller and Keanu Coetsee will start on the side of the scrum alongside Tiaan Jacobs, who gets a second start at No 8.

The absence of Porthen means the South Africans will field a new-look front row consisting of props Mbasa Maqubela and Reno Hirst, with Ethan Bester starting at hooker.

Asad Moos retains the scrumhalf jersey, but he will have a new halfback partner in Thurlon Williams, who replaces flyhalf Tylor Sefoor, with the latter not in the mat