Eben Etzebeth, Ox Nche, and Bongi Mbonambi are the only players to retain their starting spots from last Saturday’s Test victory over Scotland.
Head coach Rassie Erasmus has named a side featuring an entirely new backline and eight personnel changes overall, partly due to the shorter six-day turnaround between matches.
“The turnaround between the Scotland and England Tests is short, so we had to be smart in our selection to enable us to field a fresh squad with only six days between two tough Test matches,” said Erasmus.
“It obviously has a knock-on effect, as we’ve made 12 changes to the starting line-up, but we have been rotating our squad all season.”
This team selection continues Erasmus’s trend of averaging 8.5 personnel changes per Test in the 11 team selections he has made since the Springboks played Wales at the Allianz Stadium in June.
Bar the inclusion of tighthead Louw, the front row is unchanged, with Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi retaining their places. The last time Louw played for the Springboks was during the Covid-19 season, in a Test behind closed doors against Argentina in Port Elizabeth three years ago.
Leinster player RG Snyman joins Eben Etzebeth in the second row, promoted from the bench to replace Franco Mostert.
Siya Kolisi is named as the starting blindside flanker, replacing Marco van Staden, and will also captain the side. Pieter-Steph du Toit starts at openside flanker, while Jasper Wiese takes the number 8 jersey, completing a completely revamped back row compared to the team that faced Scotland.
The backline has been entirely reshuffled, with Grant Williams and Manie Libbok named as the half-back pairing. Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse return as the starting wingers, while Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel form the centre partnership, replacing André Esterhuizen and Lukhanyo Am. Aphelele Fassi has been selected at full-back, completing the changes to the backline.
Despite these changes, 15 players from the Rugby World Cup semi-final clash with England remain part of the squad.
The bench features a five-three split between forwards and backs, with a combined total of 359 caps. This includes Malcolm Marx (hooker), Gerhard Steenekamp, and Vincent Koch (props), alongside Elrigh Louw and Kwagga Smith, who earned his 50th cap last week. The backline cover consists of Cobus Reinach (scrum-half), Handré Pollard, and Lukhanyo Am.
The Springboks’ starting line-ups for the Rugby World Cup semi-final (2023) and final (2019) featured backlines with an average of 37 caps per player, while the forwards averaged 62. The current starting line-up boasts a combined total of 767 caps.
Erasmus said the reversion to traditional five-three split was a response to the challenge he expected England to pose.
“England poses a completely different challenge to Scotland, and we selected our squad based on what we would like to do in the match and also what we think will be best to counter the challenge England poses,” said the Bok coach.
“England come off two narrow defeats, but the quality of their performances was good in both matches, so we size of the challenge.
“We lost narrowly to Ireland and France in back-to-back matches in 2022 and a year later were world champions so we know we shouldn’t read anything into the last two results.”
In the last six meetings between the teams, each has recorded three wins, so Erasmus said he anticipated another arm wrestle: “England beat us three times out of four recently and we’ve only won three of the last six matches against them, so we have great respect for them, and we’ll certainly not underestimate them.
“As I said on Sunday, we will be facing a desperate England team that will give everything on Saturday, so the consistency in our player combinations will be vital for us to deliver the quality of the performance we would like to.
“They are playing at home in front of a passionate home crowd, and we know they will give everything to turn their Series around, so we believe it’s going to be a hard match until the final whistle,” he added.
Springbok team to face England in London:
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 9 caps, 30 points (6t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 38 caps, 101 points (16t, 3c, 5p)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 77 caps, 90 points (18t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 85 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 22 caps, 85 points (17t)
10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 18 caps, 94 pts (1t, 28c, 11p)
9 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 16 caps, 15 points (3t)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 32 caps, 10 points (2t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 85 caps, 55 points (11t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 90 caps, 60 points (12t)
5 – RG Snyman (Leinster) – 38 caps, 10 points (2t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 129 caps, 30 points (6t)
3 – Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 14 caps, 0 points
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 76 caps, 75 points (15t)
1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 38 caps, 0 points
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 74 caps, 105 points (21t)
17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 9 caps, 0 points
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 59 caps, 0 points
19 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 11 caps, 0 points
20 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 50 caps, 45 points (9t)
21 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 37 caps, 70 pts (14t)
22 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 78 caps, 767 points (7t, 108c, 167p, 5dg)
23 – Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 41 caps, 35 pts (7t)
