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Chiliboy's chance to put hand up for 2019

Cape Town - Chiliboy Ralepelle's lack of game time is not a major concern for Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus ahead of the third Test against England on Saturday. 

The 31-year-old will earn his 25th Test cap and just his fourth start at Newlands as he comes into the side to replace Bongi Mbonambi. 

Ralepelle has not played an awful amount of rugby for the Sharks this season, with both Akker van der Merwe and Franco Marais cracking the nod ahead of him in Durban at different times. 

But, with the 2019 World Cup in mind, Erasmus is prepared to try new things and give players opportunities and as a result he has made five changes to his starting line-up for the third Test. 

"There are a few guys like this (who haven't played a lot of rugby)," Erasmus said.

"Bongi (Mbonambi) didn't start a game and had played 40 minutes before we selected him in the team, Embrose (Papier) hasn't played for the Bulls consistently.

"As I've said from the beginning, I wanted to make sure that we are committed to transformation and committed to what we set out to do.

"We want to be sure, as we build towards the World Cup, which players can make it. This is a pressure Test match. The English are going to be up for this one and they would like to get pride back."

Erasmus added that this was an opportunity for Ralepelle to put his hand up for 2019.

"Chili won't be under more pressure at scrum and lineout time than in this one and it's always nice if a guy like him can come through this Test match, then we know there is another guy we can take to the World Cup," he said.

"It's a good platform to test a few guys."

Kick-off on Saturday is at 17:05. 

Teams:

South Africa

15 Warrick Gelant, 14 S'bu Nkosi, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Jean-Luc du Preez, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Embrose Papier 22 Handre Pollard, 23 Willie le Roux

England

15 Elliot Daly, 14 Jonny May, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Owen Farrell (captain), 11 Mike Brown, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 Maro Itoje, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Joe Marler

Substitutes: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Sam Simmonds, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Denny Solomona

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