Hooker Ryan Elias says Wales are fired up to dominate a formidable Springbok pack when the two sides clash at “hostile” Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The first of three Tests in SA between the Boks and Wales kicks off with the visitors having never beaten the world champions in the Republic in 10 previous attempts.

Bok coach Jacques Nienaber has named his match-day 23 for Saturday, with seven changes to the starting XV that went down 27-26 against England at Twickenham in November last year.

In the forwards, Frans Malherbe packs down at tighthead prop in Trevor Nyakane’s place, the back row welcomes Franco Mostert and Jasper Wiese instead of Kwagga Smith and Duane Vermeulen, and Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager join forces at lock.

With a physical onslaught expected from Wales, Nienaber has opted for a six-two split on the replacements bench, the forwards comprising the impactful front row of Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff and Vincent Koch, as well as uncapped duo Salmaan Moerat and Elrigh Louw with the versatile Smith.

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In the most recent match between the Boks and Wales in Cardiff, the Boks needed a 73rd-minute try from Marx and Elton Jantjies’ injury-time penalty to seal a 23-18 victory.

Speaking to media in the buildup to the clash at Loftus, the 23-Test-capped Elias said: “The respect is there because they are a very good scrummaging outfit, but at the same time we can’t give them too much respect.

“We want to be competitive and take it to them as well, it’s a fine line. We want to get our processes right and implement that on them and if we can do that to the best of our ability, we should be all right.

“They get a lot of go-forward ball from their driving lineout and are very effective at it, but I thought we did well against them last time.

“We’ve spoken about that and how to disrupt that. But the scrum, set piece, lineout … they’re all big weapons for SA and we know what’s coming. For us forwards, we’ll just listen to the gamedrivers and follow them.

He added: “We all know it’s going to be a hostile place to play but, for myself, I’m really excited for that, it’s a huge challenge against the world champions – you don’t get much bigger than that.”

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