Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has made nine changes to his matchday 23 squad to take on the All Blacks in the Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Boks will be eager to pick up where they left off folloing back-to-back victories in Australia when they meet their greatest foes, the All Blacks, for the first time since last year’s Rugby World Cup final in Paris.
The match in the concrete jungle will kick off at 17:00 and a win for Erasmus and his boys will put them in the driving seat in pursuit of the Rugby Championship title.
Exciting young pivot Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu remains at flyhalf as tried and tested Handre Pollard is set to get a run from the bench.
Two-time World Cup-winning skipper, Siya Kolisi, is back to lead the team after being rested for the previous outing against the Aussies in Perth.
Erasmus welcomed back eighth man Jasper Wiese from suspension and paired Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje in the second row because of injuries to six other locks.
Unavailable players due to injury include Eben Etzebeth (back) and Salmaan Moerat (concussion), RG Snyman (foot), Franco Mostert (broken leg), Lood de Jager (shoulder) and Jean Kleyn (eye and knee).
“It’s not ideal that we have so many injuries at lock, but we are pleased with the way Ruan stood his man in our last match, and we are confident that he’ll combine well with Pieter-Steph at lock,” Erasmus said.
“This will serve as a fantastic opportunity for him to prove what he can do against one of the best teams in the world.
“It’s also good to have a player of Jasper’s calibre back and we know that he’ll bring a lot of energy on attack and defence after biding his time to return to the field, and we are looking forward to seeing his physicality combined with the rest of the back row.
“We also have a settled backline, and Aphelele made a strong statement against the Wallabies in Perth, so we are excited to see what they have to offer against a heavily attack-orientated All Black backline.
“We’ve seen what most of these players can do under pressure in Australia, and we’re confident that they’ll want to build on that against the All Blacks.”
The changes will see a new front-row combination of prop Ox Nche, tighthead Frans Malherbe and hooker Bongi Mbonambi.
As Du Toit moves from the side of the scrum to partner Nortje, Wiese is joined in the back row by Kolisi and Ben-Jason Dixon, who has recovered from the knee injury that ruled him out of the Perth Test.
In the backline, Cobus Reinach and Feinberg-Mngomezulu reunite at halfback.
Erasmus recalled Damian de Allende to partner Jesse Kriel at centre, with Kurt-Lee Arendse also back in the team, linking up with Cheslin Kolbe and Aphelele Fassi in what is an electric back three.
The #Springboks team to face New Zealand in Johannesburg feature a new locking combination amongst a host of changes - more here: https://t.co/kllUmxNl5Q 🇿🇦#ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/ZONwaG7Jo4
— Springboks (@Springboks) August 27, 2024
The Springbok mentor expects New Zealand to go all out to get revenge after they lost the World Cup final by a single point to South Africa last year.
The Boks claimed a historic 12-11 win in France to become the first nation to win the Webb Ellis trophy four times.
“We’ve no doubt they’ll come out guns blazing,” Erasmus said.
“They’ll want to build winning momentum after bouncing back against Argentina following their disappointing opening game, and the rivalry between the Boks and All Blacks will motivate them even more.
“There is also no doubt they’ll still be hurting from the Rugby World Cup final, and in addition to that they know how important a win will be to square things up and open up the Castle Lager Rugby Championship log,” he said.
“They’re a quality team with several players who have an X-factor and they constantly pose a threat to our defence, so we have to start well and be on the top of our game in all departments to try to build on what we have done in the competition so far.”
“We’re under no illusions that this will be a completely different challenge to that which Australia posed and that the next two Tests will require a proper step up from us, but we are excited to see if we can take our game to the next level and give ourselves the best possible chance to stake a claim for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship for the first time since 2019.
“So, we’ll give our best and hopefully that will place us on the correct side of the scoreboard.”
Springbok team to face New Zealand
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath), 13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), 12 –Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), 11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls), 10 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers), 9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier), 8 – Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks), 7 – Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers), 6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92), 5 – Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls), 4 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), 3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers), 2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
Replacements: 16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), 17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls), 18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 19 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls), 20 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls), 21 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs), 22 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 23 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers)
Stats and facts
Springbok record against New Zealand:
Played: 106, Won: 40. Lost: 62, Drawn: 4. Points for: 1 741; Points against: 2 196; Tries scored: 168; Tries conceded: 240. Win %: 37.7%.
