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The world’s top two teams will battle it out at Ellis Park this Saturday in a fixture of great interest to rugby supporters worldwide as the Rugby World Cup quickly approaches. The venue is none other than the same which played host to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final, a tryless match won in extra time by the home side.
Twenty years on the same two teams are prime contenders to win the Rugby World Cup. They appear to be extremely unlikely to meet in this year’s final due to the draw. Providing both win their pools, as expected, and their Quarter Finals then their paths would cross at the Semi Finals stage. With that in mind this Saturday’s fixture brings vast importance to the tournament.
The two coaches have taken significantly different approaches with the inclusion of Heinrich Brüssow being the most notable talking point for the home side. Having last played a test in Rugby World Cup 2011 Heyneke Meyer has reconfigurated his back-row. Francois Louw moves from 6 to 7 in place of the injured Marcell Coetzee with Brüssow playing on the openside and Schalk Burger remaining at the back of the scrum but named as captain.
Burger replaces the injured Victor Matfield as captain whose place in the starting lineup goes to Lood de Jager who, besides Brüssow, is the only other change to the forwards. In the backs a late change sees Cornal Hendricks starting in place of JP Pietersen.
South Africa’s relatively settled starting XV is to be covered by a much changed bench with Meyer having rotated his replacements. Five of the eight named are different to that from the 24-20 loss in Brisbane. Adriaan Strauss, Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie remain while Trevor Nyakane, Vincent Koch, Flip van der Merwe, Warren Whiteley and Lionel Mapoe join them.
All Blacks Coach Steve Hansen has rotated his team more directly by handing test debuts to Lima Sopoaga and James Broadhurst, both of whom are in the starting lineup. Sopoaga has been named at fly half in place of Dan Carter while Broadhurst is to start in the second-row with Luke Romano missing out altogether.
The debutants are two of a total of seven changes to the run-on team. Regular first choice hooker Dane Coles returns as does scrumhalf Aaron Smith while Conrad Smith’s return sees him and Ma’a Nonu adding to their record-breaking number of appearances as the All Blacks starting mid-field combination. Also starting is Ben Smith who replaces Waisake Noholo who fractured his leg last Friday against Argentina.
Hansen has recalled Ben Franks to the reserves in place of Nepo Laulala and Sam Whitelock is the reserve second-rower coming in for Jeremy Thrush. With Liam Messam and Aaron Smith starting Victor Vito and TJ Perenara have both been demoted to the bench while Beauden Barrett and Malakai Fekitoa come in for Colin Slade and Ryan Crotty as replacement backs.
In giving more players opportunities this weekend Hansen is fine-tuning his planned squad for the Rugby World Cup. The All Blacks are to play in Pool C of the tournament which also includes Argentina, Georgia, Namibia and Tonga. South Africa are in Pool B which contains Japan, Samoa, Scotland and the USA. Of these teams Argentina, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the USA are all playing this weekend.
South Africa won the corresponding 2014 fixture 27-25 which was also played in Johannesburg. It was New Zealand’s only loss of the year and saw South Africa winning four and losing two matches in the tournament. A loss for South Africa this Saturday, though, would see the Springboks losing both opening round matches for the first time since the Rugby Championship began in 2012.
South Africa will host Argentina in the third and final round on August 8 while Australia will host New Zealand. In between matches Los Pumas are to take-on Uruguay in Montevideo on August 01.
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger (Captain), 7 Francois Louw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lionel Mapoe.
New Zealand
15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (Captain), 6 Liam Messsam, 5 James Broadhurst, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Tony Woodcock
16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Sam Whitelock, 20 Victor Vito, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Malakai Fekitoa
