Springboks pumped up for All Blacks World Cup ‘curtain raiser’

This Friday’s match marks the Springboks’ sixth and final Test of the year before they attempt to defend their world crown in France.

As a reminder, South Africa will kick off their 2023 World Cup campaign against Scotland on Sunday, 10 September, which will be followed by matches against Romania (17 September), Ireland (23 September) and Tonga (1 October) in the pool stages.

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The team will have Wednesday off to rest and recover before Friday’s match and will complete their on-field preparations with their captain’s run on Thursday.

“We won’t hold back anything,” said centre Andre Esterhuizen as he looked ahead to the clash. “Every match is important for us, so we’ll give everything we can on the field and do our best.

“There’s a good chance we’ll meet them in the World Cup quarter-final, so this is a good opportunity for us. To face them twice in the build-up to the World Cup is good for our build-up to the tournament, so we want to make the most of this match and opportunity on the field.”

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Meanwhile, lock Eben Etzebeth said this match demanded the same respect as every other Test between two of the game’s biggest rivals.

“We are playing in the Springbok jersey at one of the top stadiums in the world against a team with which we share one of the greatest rivalries, so this is not a warm-up match for us, it is a Test match,” said Etzebeth.

“We’ll give everything this week and we’ll worry about the World Cup after the game. If things go well for us, it could also give us confidence going into the World Cup, so this is a massive game for us.”

The match kicks off 20h30 SA time and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

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SPRINGBOKS TEAM TO FACE NEW ZEALAND IN LONDON:

15 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 32 caps, 41 pts (3t, 4c, 4p, 2d)
14 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 9 caps, 50 pts (10t)
13 – Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls) – 7 caps, 20 pts (4t)
12 – Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins) – 13 caps, 0 pts
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 38 caps, 115 pts (23t)
10 – Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 8 caps, 55 pts (1t, 16c, 6p)
9 – Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles) – 48 caps, 44 pts (5t, 2c, 5p)

8 – Duane Vermeulen (SA Rugby) – 69 caps, 15 pts (3t)
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 70 caps, 35 pts (7t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 76 caps, 40 pts (8t)
5 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 65 caps, 5 pts (1t)
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 112 caps, 25 pts (5t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 62 caps, 5 pts (1t)
2 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 62 caps, 80 pts (16t)
1 – Steven Kitshoff (Ulster) – 75 caps, 10 pts (2t)

Replacements:
16 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 61 caps, 60 pts (12t)
17 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 20 caps, 0 pts
18 – Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92) – 61 caps, 0 pts
19 – Jean Kleyn (Munster) – 3 caps, 0 pts (Ireland 5 caps)
20 – RG Snyman (Munster) – 27 caps, 5 pts (1t)
21 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 13 caps, 0 pts
22 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 26 caps, 27 pts (9t)
23 – Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls) – 87 caps, 65 pts (13t)

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BOK RECORD AGAINST NEW ZEALAND:

Played 104, Lost 62, Won 38, Drawn 4. Points for 2 178, Points against: 1 694. Tries scored 160, Tries conceded 234. Highest score 46-40, Biggest win 17 points (17-0 in 1928). Win %: 37%.

Milestones:

• South Africa and New Zealand have only faced another once at Twickenham in 2015 – a match the All Blacks by two points (20-18).
• Canan Moodie will start his first Test for the Springboks at centre.
• Siya Kolisi needs to score one more try to reach 10 Test tries and 50 points.
• Malcolm Marx needs one try to become the sole record holder for the most Test tries by a Springbok forward – he currently shares the record with Schalk Burger.

Miscellaneous:

• The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 746.
• There are 155 caps in the backline, with 591 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 298 caps.
• The average caps per player in the backline is 22, the forwards 73, while the players on the bench average 37.

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