Cheslin Kolbe has moved to fullback to replace Damian Willemse for the third Test at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday, with the series delicately positioned at 1-1.
Kurt-Lee Arendse will take Kolbe’s place at right wing.
The only other changes are the front row with Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw in the starting line-up and Gerhard Steenekamp, Deon Fourie and Thomas du Toit on the bench, although they were switched around shortly before the second Test in Cape Town.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus said on Monday that he made the front-row change shortly before the second Test — which was within the rules of the game — having initially expected wet conditions because of the rain.
“[In] all honesty we thought it was going to be a really wet game and I’m serious about that,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that heavier guys scrum better on heavier fields and lighter guys like hard fields and the front row that we started with where the pitch was nice and hard and dry and between Deon and Gerhard and Thomas — I know Thomas is not one of the smallest guys around — but certainly Brannas [Fourie] and Gerhard are a little bit less bulky than Ox and Wilco.
South Africa and New Zealand have played twice at the Calabash, which staged the 2010 Fifa World Cup final, with New Zealand winning both matches in 2010 and 2012
“We thought let’s look at the weather, let’s get to the pitch, let’s see how wet it really is. When we got there, the pitch was dry and hard and firm — and that’s why we picked it that way. This weekend we’re going to do it the other way,” he said, pointing out there was a 65% chance of rain on Saturday.
The Bok mentor said his side will have to improve their defence against New Zealand’s ability to find space out wide.
“It’s an area that we must get better at. But then eventually like they put us away [in the first Test where] we didn’t convert our opportunities. This weekend when we had our chances, we took our three points and we scored our tries and we scored one try less than them.”
The All Blacks won the try-count 4-3.
“We had to work harder for our tries than they had to because their one-on-one players really just beat our guys with feet and with great swinging-around structures, so without a doubt [it’s] something to focus on and something that we must fix.”
He said the one New Zealand try came when Du Toit was down and unable to take his place in the defensive line and the other when Fourie missed a tackle. “But the other two they outplayed us and outsmarted us and we have to be ready for that.”
Erasmus believes his team will be fresher for the war of attrition in the penultimate game, estimating he would have used 36 players by the end of the fourth Test in Baltimore, having used 30 already.
“I looked at the six weeks that the New Zealand players played — minutes over the last six weeks because for me that’s normally the indication — and I look at the minutes we played over the last six weeks and we’re probably per man 60 minutes less than them, so hopefully punch drunk [won’t] come into this game.”
Willemse should be ready for the final fourth Test in Baltimore, the coach said. “He pulled the hamstring, grade 1, so he should be on the plane on Sunday.”
Flyhalf Handre Pollard, who was withdrawn ahead of the second Test because of a calf niggle, scrumhalf Grant Williams and midfielder Canan Moodie are expected to be on the flight as well, he added. “They’ll be ready for selection next week.”
South Africa and New Zealand have played twice at the Calabash, which staged the 2010 Fifa World Cup final, with New Zealand winning both matches in 2010 and 2012.
The Springbok team to play the All Blacks in the third Test at FNB Stadium is:
(15-1): Cheslyn Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (capt), Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche.
Substitutes: Deon Fourie, Gerhard Steenekamp, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Andre Esterhuizen, Cameron Hanekom, Morne van den Berg, Manie Libbok.
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