South Africa vs Wales: Touring captain Dewey named for Lake Nations Championship match

Dragon hooker Elliot Dee was blown up as Lake’s cover, which Wells says came through two training sessions.

The 27-year-old is on course to continue his record as the only Wales player to start every Test under Lake Tandy.

After the 39-24 win over Fiji, Rees-Zammit and Edwards were dropped from the starting line-up against Argentina in favor of Scarlets duo Elise Mee and Sam Costello, who were left out of the squad against South Africa.

Durban have a new-look center combination with Cardiff’s Thomas partnering Llewellyn in midfield.

Eddie James is not included in the squad while Hawkins will drop to the substitutes’ bench, where he will cover the fly-half position and the backline.

Ospreys scrum-half Reuben Morgan-Williams comes in for team-mate Kieran Hardy on the bench.

Mann, who was dropped against Argentina, returned to the blind-side flanker role alongside Jack Morgan and Aaron Wainwright.

Raffel made his first international appearance for a year and his first selection by Tandy, after being left out of the previous two campaigns.

“We made some changes early on,” Tandy said

“It’s getting to the end of the season and we’ve traveled a lot.

“Some guys deserve a chance and this is a chance to freshen up the team.”

Cardiff lock Williams, who will partner Adam Beard, will make his first Test start for a year.

With Carter out, Wales face the Springboks without the lock pairing that ended the Six Nations on the summer tour with Exeter captain Dafydd Jenkins out due to a shoulder operation.

Carter forced his way into the starting line-up for the final three games of the Six Nations and was in the squad for the uncapped matches against the Barbarians and the Nations Championship games against Fiji and Argentina.

The absence of the 21-time capped Dragon forward further stretches the second-row resources.

Flanker Plumtree covered the second row in the match against Fiji and Thomas was called up to South Africa as cover and has now found himself named in the 23-man squad.

The team that Wales ended the season against Defeated Tandy’s team 73-0 November 2025 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

Wales have won three and lost eight of 11 internationals so far in Tandy’s first season in charge, with one win and one loss so far at the Nations Championship.

“South Africa are world champions and they have a lot of depth,” said Tandy.

“For us, it’s about keeping us out of the game. We want to see a real physical edge.

“We are going against probably the most physical team in the world.

“It’s a great opportunity to test ourselves against the best teams in the world.”