Handré Pollard and Cobus Reinach will form an all-new half-back partnership in South Africa’s final Autumn Nations Series match against England at Twickenham.
Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has made three changes to the side that beat Scotland last weekend, recalling both Pollard and Reinach in place of Elton Jantjies and Herschel Jantjies.
Powerful lock Lood de Jager is also promoted from the bench to the starting XV and takes the place of Franco Mostert.
South Africa are seeking to retain their place at the top of the world rankings and complete their first unbeaten autumn campaign in eight years.
However, that’s easier said than done as they go up against an England team they have not beaten at Twickenham since 2014.
“We built up good momentum in the Tests against Wales and Scotland, and it is important for us to transfer that into our final match of the tour against England, so we opted to make only three changes to the starting team for this weekend’s clash,” said Nienaber.
“England will pose different threats to Scotland and with that in mind we have decided to start with Handré, Cobus and Lood.
“Elton, Herschel and Franco have shown that they can inject energy and ignite a spark on attack off the bench, which will be handy against an English outfit that we know will be highly charged up for this match.”
Springbok team to face England in London:
15 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 71 caps
14 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 50 caps
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 25 caps
12 – Damian de Allende (Munster) – 57 caps
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 24 caps
10 – Handré Pollard (Montpellier) – 59 caps
9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 20 caps
1 – Ox Nché (Cell C Sharks) – 8 caps
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Cell C Sharks) – 47 caps
3 – Trevor Nyakane (Vodacom Bulls) – 53 caps
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Toulon) – 96 caps
5 – Lood de Jager (Sale Sharks) – 55 caps
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 62 caps
7 – Kwagga Smith (Yamaha Júbilo) – 18 caps
8 – Duane Vermeulen (Ulster) – 60 caps
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 45 caps
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 58 caps
18 – Vincent Koch (Saracens) – 30 caps
19 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 50 caps
20 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 10 caps
21 – Herschel Jantjies (DHL Stormers) – 20 caps
22 – Elton Jantjies (NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes) – 43 caps
23 – Frans Steyn (Toyota Cheetahs) – 73 caps
