Springboks make 11 changes for Scotland and still present team of World Cup champs

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — No. 8 Kwagga Smith will play his 50th test in a vastly changed South Africa for its British rugby tour opener against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Smith made his debut in 2018 and has won two Rugby World Cups. In fact, 21 of the matchday 23 have won a World Cup or two, despite 11 changes to the starting XV.

Lock Franco Mostert returns from a broken leg in July and will partner Eben Etzebeth, who captains the side and extends his Springboks caps record to 129. Siya Kolisi was in the reserves.

The Springboks have been overhauled with England at Twickenham in mind next weekend, after winning the Rugby Championship decider against Argentina 48-7 in Mbombela in September.

Coach Rassie Erasmus opted for a 7-1 bench, with scrumhalf Grant Williams the only reserve back.

“This is a seasoned and quality team ... so they know what it takes to perform at this level,” Erasmus said on Friday.

"Many of these combinations have also played together this season either during the (July home) series and Rugby Championship, or both, which will be valuable against a quality team such as Scotland.

“We are expecting an extremely physical match, so we opted for a seven-one split of forwards on the bench, and this was aided by the fact that we have such versatile players in the backline, who can cover different positions if necessary.”

New Zealand-born back Tom Jordan will make his first start for Scotland among four changes to the starting XV.

The versatile Jordan made his debut as a replacement in the 57-17 win against Fiji last Saturday after qualifying on residency grounds, and was selected at fullback in place of injured Glasgow colleague Kyle Rowe.

Toulouse's Blair Kinghorn, Bath flyhalf Finn Russell Toulon and Toulon scrumhalf Ben White — all of whom were unavailable last weekend as the match was outside the international window — were the three others added to Gregor Townsend's side for the visit of the world champions.

Kinghorn, Scotland's regular fullback, will start on the wing in place of Darcy Graham, who scored four tries against Fiji but dropped out with a head injury. White and Russell take over from last weekend's halves Ali Price and standout Adam Hastings, who both miss out entirely.

Former Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie was among the substitutes after being a notable omission from the matchday 23 against Fiji.

Townsend chose a 6-2 bench, including Northampton prop Elliot Millar-Mills and Bath No. 8 Josh Bayliss, to try and counter the Springboks' second-half 'bomb squad.'

The Springboks have won eight consecutive tests against Scotland since 2012, including 18-3 at the World Cup last year.

Lineups:

Scotland: Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (captain), Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell, Ben White; Jack Dempsey, Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Grant Gilchrist, Zander Fagerson, Ewan Ashman, Pierre Schoeman. Reserves: Dylan Richardson, Rory Sutherland, Elliot Millar Mills, Josh Bayliss, Jamie Ritchie, Jamie Dobie, Stafford McDowell.

South Africa: Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Jaden Hendrikse; Kwagga Smith, Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth (captain), Thomas du Toit, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Reserves: Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jasper Wiese, Grant Williams.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

FILE - South Africa's Kwagga Smith, right, with teammate RG Snyman waves towards the supporters after a rugby test match between South Africa and Ireland at Kings Park stadium in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

Jürgen Klopp’s task running Red Bull's soccer operations got a whole lot tougher even before his first day at work.

The ex-Liverpool manager was announced in October as the drinks giant's new “head of global soccer” across its international soccer empire, but isn't due to start until Jan. 1.

In the meantime, that empire is crumbling.

Red Bull's showpiece club Leipzig has lost every one of its games in the new-look Champions League and hasn't won a match in the German Bundesliga since October. Losing 5-1 to Wolfsburg last week was especially bruising.

A cup win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday eased some of the pressure on coach Marco Rose, but his young squad's confidence still appears fragile.

Salzburg, the original Red Bull club, is a distant fifth in the Austrian league and has lost four of its five Champions League games. In the Brazilian league, Bragantino is 18th of 20 teams.

The sole bright spot is in the United States, where the New York Red Bulls play the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS Cup final on Saturday.

Klopp said in October he saw his new role as being more of an “adviser” to coaches — “often the loneliest person at the club” — than a hire-and-fire executive.

That might be put to the test if Leipzig and Salzburg don't show some sustained improvement this month.

Leipzig has a chance to record a much-needed Bundesliga win Saturday against struggling Holstein Kiel, but getting a Champions League point against high-flying Aston Villa next week will be tougher.

Until recently, Rose seemed a good fit as Leipzig coach. He was born in Leipzig and won titles at Salzburg, and combined well with up-and-coming players like forwards Lois Openda and Benjamin Sesko and on-loan midfielder Xavi Simons. With the team's recent form, there's been plenty of speculation in Germany about who might replace him.

The coaching situation at Salzburg is more personal for Klopp. Pep Lijnders spent six years as Klopp's assistant at Liverpool before moving to the Austrian team in May. Perhaps surprisingly, Salzburg also has a spot at the Club World Cup in the United States next year, and it will be the only club from the Red Bull group there.

There's been one change even before Klopp takes charge. Rouven Schröder left his role as Leipzig sporting director last week for a newly created position as “managing director for sport” at Salzburg. Officially, it's a promotion and brings more decision-making authority, though it also amounts to making Schröder a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

Klopp's given no sign he's keen to coach again soon — and his move has faced protests from fans of his earlier German clubs — but the Red Bull soccer empire has a history of backroom leadership stepping in when needed.

Ralf Rangnick coached Leipzig in two stints while also in a sporting director role and then moved to a role similar to Klopp's as “head of sports and development soccer” for the group.

Klopp on the sidelines again? It might not be impossible.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Leipzig players celebrate with coach Marco Rose after scoring their side's third goal of the game during a German Cup match between RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Red Bull Arena, in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)

Leipzig's Benjamin Henrichs, right, and Frankfurt's Niels Nkounkou battle for the ball during a German Cup match between RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt at the Red Bull Arena, in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Hendrik Schmidt/dpa via AP)