All Blacks Vs Springboks – Who Will Prevail?

Come Saturday, the Springboks will face arguably their most daunting and toughest task this season – attempting to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand, and after testing the World Champions last year during the infamous Eden Park Test, Heyeneke Meyer’s men will fancy their chances.

The Springboks have seen a number of personale changes in the squad, most notably Handré Pollard starting at flyhalf in place of Morne Steyn. There’s no denying the talent of Pollard, however, putting up against the All Blacks while still relatively inexperienced is a massive gamble from Meyer. Whether Steyn was dropped due to his lacklustre performance against the Wallabies or be it an injury, Meyer’s faith in Pollard is either going to make or break the tournament for South Africa.

One area that Pollard clearly has over Steyn is the ability to run and take the ball to the line. As shown throughout the Junior World Championship, Pollard has an attacking mindset and can take gaps and opportunities he sees himself – something Steyn tends to rely on others to do. This mentality should bode well for the Boks, which matches the danger that a player like Aaron Cruden poses, who Pollard will be lining up against.

“We felt that Handré has the right skill set for how we want to approach this game,” said Heyneke Meyer. “He played well in the three Tests that he started. A couple of months ago, he was named the World Junior Player of the Year after some very impressive performances here for the Junior Springboks and I’m sure he can build on that.

“It’s also good for continuity to have an almost unchanged side. We know where we made mistakes last weekend and the players now have an opportunity to rectify those against the toughest opponent in world rugby.”

As for the All Blacks, Liam Messam and Sam Whitelock were both ruled out earlier this week, which sees Jeremy Thrush move into the second row, while Steven Luatua comes in for Messam in the starting line-up. Luatua has proven to be a pivotal lineout jumper and will give Matfield and Etzebeth some competition in the air.

In the backline, Israel Dagg retains the No. 15 jersey after a strong performance against the Pumas last week, leaving Ben Smith to take care of the right wing.

This is an All Blacks side with very few weak links, and if the Springboks are to stand any chance, it’ll be through some tireless and unrelenting defence to force some errors from the Kiwis, because everyone knows, they’re going to attack strong and hard given the form of players such as Julian Savea, Aaron Smith, Beauden Barrett and Malakai Fekitoa are in.

Springboks – 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Damian de Allende.

New Zealand – 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Steven Luatua, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Joe Moody, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Sam Cane, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Malakai Fekitoa.