There is only one new man in the matchday-23 from the Cape Town Test and that is due to an injury to Damian Willemse.
The Springboks have banked on consistency ahead of the third Test against the All Blacks at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday.
The All Blacks won the opener at Ellis Park 33-16, before the Boks bounced back with a 33-26 win at the Cape Town Stadium over the past weekend. At 1-1 in the series it’s all set up to be a cracking final game on South African soil before the teams move on to the USA and the fourth Test in Baltimore next weekend.
‘Best team to achieve our goal’
Bok boss Rassie Erasmus has made just one change to his team that won in Cape Town on Saturday for the FNB showdown. With Damian Willemse ruled out with a hamstring injury, Cheslin Kolbe shifts to fullback and Kurt-Lee Arendse comes in on the wing.
“This is an important series that we want to win. We lost the first game, won the second and we thought continuity would be the best thing for one of the most important games in the series,” explained Erasmus.
“We can’t win (the series) this Saturday, but we can make sure that we won’t lose it, as the last Test would then be for either a draw or (outright series) win. So we just feel this is the best team to achieve our goal this weekend.”
Last week the Boks made a few changes after the team announcement, with Siya Kolisi, who had been bracketed with Paul de Villiers, passing fit and retaking the captaincy from Pieter-Steph du Toit, while Kolbe was also brought in after passing fit, with Arendse dropping out.
Front row changes
Handré Pollard also got injured, which saw Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu come off the bench to start and Manie Libbok added to the bench.
But it was the matchday front row switcheroo that surprised most. With less than an hour to go to kick-off on Saturday the Boks announced that their reserve front row of Gerhard Steenekamp, Deon Fourie and Thomas du Toit would instead be starting, with Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw dropping to the bench.
“We did (think that change worked out). I see there has been a bit of an issue (in the media) around that. But an hour before the match, when you give in your team sheet, if they are in your match 23 you can swap the whole bench and start the other guys if you want to,” said Erasmus.
“It is within the laws of the game. In all honesty, we thought it was going to be a really wet game and there is no doubt that heavier guys scrum better on heavier fields and lighter guys like hard fields.
“This weekend we are planning to stick with this (starting) team.”
