South Africa Make One Injury-Enforced Change for Third Test Against New Zealand

Rassie Erasmus has kept changes to a minimum for South Africa’s third test against New Zealand, making one injury-enforced adjustment after the Springboks’ bruising 33-26 win in Cape Town.

Cheslin Kolbe moves from wing to fullback because Damian Willemse is injured. Kurt-Lee Arendse joins the squad in the number 14 jersey. The match will take place at Johannesburg’s 94,500-seat Soccer City on Saturday, with the four-test series tied 1-1.

Erasmus also retained the front row he originally selected for the second test: Malcolm Marx at hooker, with Ox Nche and Wilco Louw at prop. They had been moved to the bench shortly before kickoff in Cape Town, but Deon Fourie, Gerhard Steenekamp and Thomas du Toit now return to the replacements.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu starts again at flyhalf, with Manie Libbok on the bench. Handre Pollard remains unavailable because of a calf problem. Captain Siya Kolisi returns from a hamstring injury and starts alongside Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese in the back row.

Eben Etzebeth will extend his record as South Africa’s most-capped player to 145 appearances. Erasmus said the team wanted continuity in its combinations and that the players who delivered the previous week had shown composure and followed the plan effectively.

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It was always our plan to have a little more continuity in player combinations for this series, and we thought that the players who did the job for us last week really showed composure and did well to stick to the plan and what we wanted to achieve last week.