Wales coach has chosen to return Dan Lydiate to the starting team, with Tipuric dropping out.
“It was a really tough game last week and I felt we compromised ourselves a bit with Sam at six and Justin at seven,” said Gatland after announcing his team for the Bok clash.
“Dan had taken a knock to his eye, which was one of the main reasons we never considered him last week. But we feel that South Africa have gone back to their tried and trusted physical approach, and to combat that we are going to need to match that physicality with forward runners off No 9. Schalk Burger has also become a good distributor of the ball, so we’ve gone back to the balance we had prior to Australia, with the No 7 playing to the ball.
“Dan hasn’t had any further problems with his eye this week. He was available for selection so we went with him. He was available last week even though he did have the eye problem, but this time we require a different balance.”
The other big talking point ahead of the Wales team statement was outside centre, where George North was suggested for a return to the wing on a mission to help the Welsh get a leg up in the battle with the Boks. Gatland decided to select 20-year-old Tyler Morgan as the midfield partner for Jamie Roberts instead.
Although considered a star of the future, Morgan has only played three test matches.
