Saturday’s ‘festival’ match in Baltimore, USA, represents an opportunity for the Springboks to add some more historic silverware to their trophy cabinet, although the All Blacks will be hoping to bounce back and claim a win that would level the series at 2-2.
Rassie Erasmus has named a settled side for the third week in a row, with Damian Willemse replacing the injured Cheslin Kolbe at fullback, and scrumhalf Morne van den Berg being drafted into the starting team.
Meanwhile, the All Blacks have made some significant changes as veteran hooker Codie Taylor will captain a largely new-look New Zealand outfit.
Richie Mo’unga will make his first Test appearance since the 2023 World Cup final, while Anton Lienert-Brown slots into the midfield.
Kick off is at 23:00 (SA time), and will be referee’d by England’s Karl Dickson.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW AS THE SPRINGBOKS AND ALL BLACKS CONCLUDE THE SERIES
Springboks: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.
New Zealand: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Josh Moorby, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Peter Lakai, 7 Ethan Blackadder, 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 5 Sam Darry, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor (captain), 1 Ethan de Groot.
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Tyrel Lomax, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Rieko Ioane, 23 Beauden Barrett.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Matthew Carley (England), Christophe Ridley (England)
TMO: Andrew Jackson (England)
Springbok record against New Zealand:
Played: 113, Won: 45, Lost: 64, Drawn: 4. Points for: 1 928; Points against: 2 352; Tries scored: 188; Tries conceded: 261. Win %: 39,8%.
Miscellaneous:
- Eben Etzebeth will extend his record as the most capped Springbok player of all time to 146 caps when he takes the field.
- The loose trio of Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, and Jasper Wiese will extend the record they set last week to overtake Francois Louw, Willem Alberts, and Duane Vermeuelen (17) as the loose trio with the most Test starts to 19 matches.
- The Springboks have only played three Test matches in the USA in history where they defeated the USA 38-7 in 1981 and 43-10 in 2001, while they suffered a narrow 22-20 defeat against Wales in Washington DC in 2018, which was Erasmus’ first Test in charge as head coach.
- This match will mark the first Springbok Test in history to be played in Baltimore.
- Jasper Wiese requires only one more Test match appearance after this encounter to join the group of players who have earned 50 Test caps.
- The Springboks have won seven of the last nine matches against the All Blacks dating back to August 2023.
- The 2031 Rugby World Cup will be hosted in the USA.
- The total Test caps in the Springbok starting line-up is 927.**** There are 327 caps in the backline, with 600 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 277 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline is 47, the forwards 75, while the players on the bench average 35.
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