Louw takes his place in a team that sees Fourie du Preez become the Springboks’ 56th Test captain after injuries to Jean de Villiers and Victor Matfield.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said that losing two experienced captains in one week had been a severe blow but that the squad included a number of highly capable deputies.

“Fourie has been one of the best scrumhalves in world rugby for a long time, but he also understands the game better than most players and is a tactical genius,” said Meyer. “He will know exactly what is needed on Saturday when we continue our fight to keep our World Cup dream alive.

“Schalk stood in on the last occasion that Jean and Victor were both absent earlier this season before Fourie had returned to fitness. They are both great leaders who go about their work in contrasting ways and I think they will work extremely well in tandem.

“They are hugely experienced and they know what it will take to win this very important match against a great Scottish side.”

Meyer said his team would have to build on their victory over Samoa on Saturday in order to stay in the hunt for a play-off spot at the Rugby World Cup.

“The performance against Samoa was much better, but Scotland have been impressive in their victories over Japan and the USA.

“We know in which areas we have to improve and we will have to fire at 100% on Saturday against a motivated Scotland side. The injuries have not been ideal, but we can’t do anything about that and the players selected will have to perform once again this weekend.”

Springbok team to face Scotland

15 Willie le Roux

14 JP Pietersen

13 Jesse Kriel

12 Damian De Allende

11 Bryan Habana

10 Handré Pollard

9 Fourie du Preez (captain)

8 Duane Vermeulen

7 Schalk Burger

6 Francois Louw

5 Lood de Jager

4 Eben Etzebeth

3 Jannie du Plessis

2 Bismarck du Plessis

1 Tendai Mtawarira

Replacements:

16 Adriaan Strauss

17 Trevor Nyakane

18 Frans Malherbe

19 Pieter-Steph du Toit

20 Willem Alberts

21 Ruan Pienaar

22 Pat Lambie

23 Jan Serfontein

Louw in line to face Scotland in RWC

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