DURBAN, South Africa, July 9 – World champions South Africa will field an unchanged team for the second Test against Ireland in Durban on Saturday.
The starting XV named by Rassie Erasmus is the most experienced in the history of South African rugby, with 990 caps across the 15 players – 12 of whom started in the Rugby World Cup final win over New Zealand in October.
Siya Kolisi will captain the side while Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende will set a new record of playing the most Test matches together at centre as they line out in midfield for the 30th time.
The Springboks won a gripping first match 27-20 on Saturday in Pretoria.
Springbok coach Erasmus said “it’s always tough facing Ireland” and he expects a response from the back-to-back Six Nations champions.
“They are a quality team, they are ranked second in the world, and as we saw last week, they never stop fighting, so we know the magnitude of the challenge that awaits us this weekend,” the former Munster head coach added.
“We have no doubt they’ll come out even stronger this week, but we also identified the areas of the game that we need to improve on, and it’s vital for us to build on our performance in our quest to win both matches.”
Ireland, who will name their team on Thursday, will be forced to make changes after series-ending injuries to hooker Dan Sheehan and scrum-half Craig Casey in Saturday’s defeat in Pretoria.
South Africa: W le Roux; C Kolbe; J Kriel, D de Allende; KL Arendse; H Pollard; F de Klerk; O Nche, B Mbonambi, F Malherbe; E Etzebeth, F Mostert; S Kolisi (capt), PS du Toit, K Smith.
Replacements: M Marx, G Steenekamp, V Koch, S Moerat, RG Snyman, M van Staden, G Williams, S Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
