Rassie Erasmus throws late curveball at All Blacks with team sheet update

Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has thrown a surprise curveball at the All Blacks less than an hour before the second Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series kicks off, swapping his starting and bench front rows.

While the trio of Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw were originally named to start the Cape Town match, they will now come into the game off the bench, with Gerhard Steenekamp, Deon Fourie and Thomas du Toit coming into the starting team.

The changes come after three matchday team updates earlier in the week.

Siya Kolisi was initially named alongside Paul de Villiers due to uncertainty about the captain’s fitness. Once Kolisi was cleared to play, De Villiers dropped out of the matchday team.

A training-ground injury to Handre Pollard saw the veteran flyhalf drop out of the team late in the week, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu promoted to the No.10 jersey and Manie Libbok joining the bench.

Kurt-Lee Arendse was supposed to start on the right edge, but when Cheslin Kolbe was declared fit on the eve of the Test, he was thrown into the match at Arendse’s expense.

Updated Springboks team to play the All Blacks

15 Damian Willemse
14 Cheslin Kolbe
13 Jesse Kriel
12 Damian de Allende
11 Ethan Hooker
10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
9 Cobus Reinach
1 Gerhard Steenekamp
2 Deon Fourie
3 Thomas du Toit
4 Eben Etzebeth
5 Ruan Nortje
6 Siya Kolisi
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit
8 Jasper Wiese

Reserves

16 Malcolm Marx
17 Ox Nche
18 Wilco Louw
19 Lood de Jager
20 Andre Esterhuizen
21 Cameron Hanekom
22 Morne van den Berg
23 Manie Libbok