South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer has made four changes from the side that beat England 31-28 at Twickenham last week for the Test against Italy in Padua on Saturday.
Fullback Johan Goosen comes in for Willie le Roux, while in the pack Teboho Mohoje replaces Schalk Burger, Coenie Oosthuizen comes in for Jannie du Plessis and Trevor Nykane replaces Tendai Mtawarira.
Italy have never beaten South Africa and Meyer also made five changes on the bench, with Nizaam Carr and Julian Redelinghuys included in a Test squad for the first time.
Nyakane will start his first Test for the Springboks at loose-head prop, while Oosthuizen comes off the bench to replace Du Plessis, who was ruled out with injury earlier this week.
“We planned to make a few shifts for this Test as I’d like to see if these players can make the step up,” said Meyer.
“The guys coming in deserve their opportunities and seeing that we won’t have our overseas-based players available next week against Wales, it made sense to bring a few of them in this week.
“I’m excited to see what these guys can do on Saturday in what will be a stern test against a fired-up Italy,” said Meyer.
Italy, who will name their starting team on Thursday, lost 20-18 to Argentina a week after a 24-13 win over Samoa.
Despite Italy never having beaten the Springboks in their previous 11 meetings, Meyer added: “They are a passionate nation with a very experienced coach in Jacques Brunel and a world-class captain in Sergio Parisse.
“The Italian pack is always formidable and their backs are not scared of taking chances. Our focus is to show improvements from our performance at Twickenham and we know it will be a big challenge on Saturday.”
South Africa team (15-1)
Johan Goosen; JP Pietersen, Jan Serfontein, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana; Pat Lambie, Cobus Reinach; Duane Vermeulen, Teboho Mohoje, Marcell Coetzee; Victor Matfield, Eben Etzebeth; Coenie Oosthuizen, Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane. Res: Bismarck du Plessis, Gurthr Steenkamp, Julian Redelinghuys, Lood de Jager, Nizaam Carr, Francois Hougaard, Handr Pollard, Willie Le Roux
