Pollard back at flyhalf as Boks change up for NZ

Double World Cup 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 XV, which defeated the All Blacks in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Scrumhalf Grant Williams earns his first start of the season in partnership with flyhalf Handre Pollard, who is promoted from the bench along with lock Eben Etzebeth, while Le Roux and Moodie come straight into the XV.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, who took a hard blow to the cheek in last week’s clash, made it through all the training sessions this week and has been cleared to play, which will see him start in a powerful loose trio with Jasper Wiese and Pieter-Steph du Toit, who reverts from lock to flanker.

Etzebeth will pair up with the hard-working Ruan Nortje in the engine room, while Du Toit’s inclusion in the loose trio and Le Roux as the last line of defence sees Ben-Jason Dixon and Aphelele Fassi sit out of this week’s encounter, along with scrumhalf Cobus Reinach.

Moodie fills the void left by Kurt-Lee Arendse, who has been ruled out of the match due to concussion, with his inclusion seeing 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 (utility back) among the back replacements.

Erasmus warned that he was expecting New Zealand to raise its game to a higher level than last week’s nail-biter.

“This match is going to be 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 Castle Lager 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.

“They’re a quality team with a lot of pace and 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.”

Erasmus was delighted to have Kolisi in his starting team and said: “Siya is a world-class player and captain, and he adds immense value to the team with the way he leads by example and galvanises the team when the pressure is on.

“Similarly, to the call we made with Eben last week, our team policy is that if a player trains on a Monday and gets through training during the week pain-free, they can be selected for the weekend, and Siya did just that.”

The bench features the same front row that took on the All Blacks in Johannesburg, Malcolm Marx (hooker), Steenekamp and Koch (both props), while loose forwards Louw and Smith complete the forward replacements.

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Etzebeth will close in on Victor Matfield’s record as the most capped Springbok (127 caps) as he plays his 126th Test, while Le Roux’s start will nudge him to only three Tests away from joining the select group of Springbok centurions.

A victory would also see the Springboks take a major step toward winning the competition for the first time since 2019.

“It would be fantastic to achieve that as a team, but if you look too far ahead, it comes back to bite you,” said Erasmus.

“The focus for us all week is to try to deliver the best possible performance we can against New Zealand and to correct the wrongs of last week.

“New Zealand have not been the best team in the world for so many years for nothing. They’re a formidable team, and they’ve shown in the past against us that you never write them off. We saw how they bounced back against Argentina after losing their first match of the tournament.

“They’ll also be motivated by the fact that Cape Town has been a good hunting ground for them; they’ll be inspired to make a strong statement this week.”