Louw made his 40th appearance for his country in the 64-0 victory against USA last Wednesday at the Olympic Stadium. The experienced JP Pietersen – who scored a hat-trick against Samoa in the second pool match – is included in the only change to the starting team from that which defeated the Eagles.

The 63-capped wing, who has recovered from a knee injury which kept him out of the USA Test, will wear the No 14 jersey and Bryan Habana will revert to the left-wing for this encounter. It will be the 42^nd time they play together as a wing-combination in the Springboks’ starting team.

Habana currently leads the try-scoring stakes at the World Cup with five, while Pietersen is joint-second with four, a position he shares with five other players.

The Springbok bench shows four changes from the last match. The experienced quartet of Adriaan Strauss, Jannie du Plessis, Ruan Pienaar and Pat Lambie are all back to give the South Africans a boost from the replacements’ bench.

With a combined total of 252 caps between the four of them, these players should be able to make an impact later in the game.

“We’ve seen first-hand how important it is to have experienced players on the field at the end of a match and to have this kind of experience available on the bench in a knock-out match is great,” said Meyer.

“Saturday’s match will be huge and we are expecting an arm wrestle right until the end. We’re playing against a well-balanced side that always likes to mix things up when it comes to physicality.

“They have a good set-piece and some strong ball carriers upfront and in the back – it’s what you expect to face at this stage of the competition and we’re very excited about the challenge.”

The only player who was not considered because of injury is Victor Matfield, who felt some discomfort in his hamstring at training on Tuesday.

“We were planning to use Victor from the bench to add even more experience to our replacements, but we’re also not prepared to risk him if he’s not ready. Luckily in Pieter-Steph du Toit we have another young player who has been performing very well and will slot in with ease,” said Meyer.

The Springbok team to face Wales in London is:

Position	Name	Franchise / Club	Test Caps	Test points
15	Willie le Roux	Toyota Cheetahs	31	45
14	JP Pietersen	Cell C Sharks	63	110
13	Jesse Kriel	Vodacom Bulls	8	15
12	Damian De Allende	DHL Stormers	10	5
11	Bryan Habana	Toulon	114	320
10	Handré Pollard	Vodacom Bulls	17	141
9	Fourie du Preez (captain)	Suntory	74	75
8	Duane Vermeulen	DHL Stormers	32	10
7	Schalk Burger (vice-captain)	DHL Stormers	83	80
6	Francois Louw	Bath Rugby	40	40
5	Lood de Jager	Toyota Cheetahs	16	20
4	Eben Etzebeth	DHL Stormers	41	5
3	Frans Malherbe	DHL Stormers	9	0
2	Bismarck du Plessis	Cell C Sharks	76	55
1	Tendai Mtawarira	Cell C Sharks	72	10
Replacements:
16	Adriaan Strauss	Vodacom Bulls	51	30
17	Trevor Nyakane	Vodacom Bulls	20	5
18	Jannie du Plessis	Cell C Sharks	67	5
19	Pieter-Steph du Toit	Cell C Sharks	7	0
20	Willem Alberts	Cell C Sharks	35	35
21	Ruan Pienaar	Ulster	87	135
22	Pat Lambie	Cell C Sharks	47	131
23	Jan Serfontein	Vodacom Bulls	23	10

Twickenham quarter-final beckons for Louw

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