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South Africa will hand rugby union Test debuts to three players when they host England at Durban.
South Africa have chosen uncapped forwards Eben Etzebeth, Juandre Kruger and Marcell Coetzee for the first Test against England at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.
Etzebeth and Kruger come in at lock as the Springboks prepare for life after the iconic second-row partnership of Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield ended at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Matfield hung up his boots while Botha moved to France, leaving new coach Heyneker Meyer with a selection headache ahead of his first match in charge of the two-time world champions.
Danie Rossouw, who replaced injured Botha at the World Cup, moved to Japan and was not considered for the England series, which continues on June 16 in Johannesburg and concludes a week later in Port Elizabeth.
Many commentators believed the successor to controversial coach Peter de Villiers would go with Bulls duo Flip van der Merwe, the only one of four locks in the squad who has been capped, and Kruger.
But Meyer opted for 20-year-old Etzebeth, who started playing Super Rugby for Western Stormers only this season and is widely considered a natural successor to Botha at the front of the line-out.
Kruger is no stranger to English rugby having spent several seasons with Premiership club Northampton Saints.
The elevation of Coetzee after less than two seasons of Super Rugby action was widely expected, especially when Heinrich Brussow surprisingly failed to make the 32-man series squad named last weekend.
Meyer sprang a surprise at full-back with Northern Bulls Zane Kirchner getting the nod ahead of Patrick Lambie, who filled the role with distinction during a World Cup campaign that ended with a quarter-final loss to Australia.
Only six of the starting line-up against the Wallabies survive -- wings JP Pietersen and Bryan Habana, centre Jean de Villiers, fly-half Morne Steyn, tight-head prop Jannie du Plessis and eighthman Pierre Spies.
Scrum-half Francois Hougaard, hooker Bismarck du Plessis and flank Willem Alberts came on as replacements in the 11-9 defeat by the Australians and make the starting line-up against England.
