Salmaan Moerat will take over the Springbok captaincy for the first time when he leads a squad featuring seven uncapped players in a first Test with emerging nation Portugal in the final match of the Incoming Series in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus included all seven of the uncapped players in his training squad for the historic Test, which will also be the first time the Boks have been refereed by a woman, with Scotlands Hollie Davidson taking the whistle.
The uncapped players in the starting lineup are former Junior Springbok captain Phepsi Buthelezi, Johan Grobbelaar and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, while Andre-Hugo Venter, Ruan Venter, Morne van den Berg and Quan Horn could be in line to make their Test debuts from the replacements bench.
The 26-year-old Moerat becomes the 66 th Springbok captain and the third in four tests this year as he makes the step up having previously led SA Schools, the Junior Springboks and the Stormers.
Only four players in the team were retained from Saturdays match-23 against Ireland , namely Kurt-Lee Arendse, RG Snyman, Moerat, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
