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Siya in and Handre starts as Rassie backs experience

olympics05 September 2024 07:00| © SuperSport
By:Gavin Rich
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Tony Brown (Assistant Coach) and Siya Kolisi © Gallo Images

If the All Blacks were hoping that Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus would give them an opening in the return Castle Lager Rugby Championship test match at DHL Stadium by fielding an experimental team they will be disappointed.

In all there are six changes, including two positional switches, to the team that started the 31-27 come from behind win in the first game between the two rugby superpowers in Johannesburg last week.

In all cases apart from the injury induced absence of Kurt-Lee Arendse the changes can be seen as an advertisement of the Boks’ determination to make it two wins in a row against the Kiwis in this series and four in a row since a winning sequence was started in a World Cup warmup game in London last September.

The team is far less experimental than the one that started against the All Blacks in Johannesburg last week, with the return of a few experienced players to their usual positions. Double World Cup winner Handre Pollard, who played off the bench at Emirates Airlines Park, is back in the No 10 jersey for the first time since the second test against Ireland in Durban in mid-July.

That doesn’t mean that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been dispensed with or dropped - the youngster who did so well in his first game against New Zealand last week is on the bench, where he will cover both flyhalf and fullback.

Willie le Roux is another experienced World Cup winner back in the starting team, although in this case it was a more surprising selection given the strides that Aphelele Fassi has made recently in what can be considered his breakthrough international season.

The smart money though will be on Fassi, who is not in the match day squad for Saturday, returning for the games against Argentina later in the competition.

RETURNS TO CONVENTiONAL BENCH SPLIT

His selection to the No 15 jersey means veteran Le Roux will be playing his 97th game and he is closing in on the landmark century mark he is aiming at. 
An interesting move from Erasmus is the decision to return to the conventional five/three split between forwards and backs on the bench for this game.

It was his six/two split, and the impact of the forward laden Bomb Squad, that swung the game South Africa’s way last week. However, there’s a pleasing mix of experience and talented youthfulness on the bench, with World Cup winner Lukhanyo Am being joined by his Sharks teammate Jaden Hendrikse in the impact squad.

Another Sharks player, Grant Williams, has been rewarded for his good impact as a bench player last week by taking the No 9 jersey as Pollard’s halfback partner. Cobus Reinach, who started in the 31-27 win in Johannesburg, has dropped out of the match day squad.

MOODIE BRINGS HEIGHT TO BACK THREE

Back in the match day squad for the first time this year and indeed in the starting team though is Canan Moodie. The Bulls player, who was one of the stars of the big win over the All Blacks at Twickenham last year where he played outside centre, is on the right wing in place of his injured (concussion) Bulls teammate Kurt-Lee Arendse.

Moodie’s presence will add some height to the Bok back three which could be useful in the anticipated aerial battle.

The rest of the backline is the same as the one that lined up in the first game, while at forward Pieter-Steph du Toit has been shifted back to his usual position of blindside flank after starting at lock last week. The man he was standing in for in that game, Eben Etzebeth, is back in the starting line-up after playing off the bench in Johannesburg, while Ben-Jason Dixon, who wore the No 7 a week ago, is not in the 23.

There is no lock cover on the bench, which suggests Du Toit will be performing the role of second row back-up, and will probably move there when Kwagga Smith comes on in the second half.

Skipper Siya Kolisi has emerged from his injury cloud to be pronounced fit enough to lead the side in his old home city.

Springbok team:

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