Return of RWC winners boosts Boks

Canan Moodie and Jaden Hendrikse will make their first appearances for the Springboks since the 2023 Rugby World Cup on Saturday, while double RWC winners, Willie le Roux and Lukhanyo Am, also return to the match-23 to face New Zealand in the Rugby Championship in Cape Town.

Springbok coach, Rassie Erasmus, recalled the quartet to the side, which shows seven changes, two of which are positional to the starting 15 that beat the All Blacks, 31-27, at Ellis Park in Johannesburg last week Saturday.

Grant Williams will earn his first start of the season in partnership with Handre Pollard, who is promoted from the bench along with Eben Etzebeth, while Le Roux and Moodie come straight into the 15.

Moodie fills the void left by Kurt-Lee Arendse, who has been ruled out of the match due to concussion. His inclusion sees Kolbe move from the right to left wing.

The Boks have reverted to a traditional five-three split on the bench, with Am joining Hendrikse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu among the back replacements.

Erasmus warned that he was expecting New Zealand to raise their game to greater heights than last week’s nail-biter.

“This match is going to massive,” said Erasmus. “New Zealand are a world class outfit, and we know that they’ll be desperate to bounce back after leading in the second half last week.”

“They’ll also be fully aware of the fact that a victory could give them a huge boost on the Rugby Championship standings, and they’ll be playing to retain the Freedom Cup, which they’ve held since 2010. It’s going to be another epic encounter.”

He says the All Blacks are a quality team with a lot of paces and has several players who have a great X-factor.

“We also saw last week what they can do if they get a strong start, while they have proven time and time again that they are a team that can close out games under a lot of pressure in the last 20 minutes, so it’s going to take a huge team effort to register a victory against them.” Written by Ntsako Mkhari