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South Africa coach Lassie Erasmus fielded 23 players for the second match against Ireland on Saturday, the most experienced line-up in the Springboks’ 133-year history.
Erasmus made no changes to the starting line-up that beat Ireland 27-20 in the first Test in Pretoria and also maintained faith in the bench.
The starting lineup has played a total of 990 Test matches, slightly more than the team that played in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand in Paris last October, when they had 987 Test matches.
“We didn’t really think about these things when we picked the team but it shows how lucky we are to have so much depth and quality in the squad,” Erasmus said.
“While that may be an impressive statistic, it by no means means we will necessarily win. We know we have to give our all and play good rugby throughout the game to get the desired result.”
Handre Pollard retained his place at halfback despite a poor kicking performance in the first Test match, while Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel became the most used centre pairing in Springbok history when they took the field together for the 30th time.
Flanker Siya Kolisi will captain the side while Eben Etzebeth will move closer to the record for most Springboks appearances, which is held by former second-row player Victor Matfield at 127. Etzebeth is ranked 122nd in Durban.
“It’s always going to be a tough match against Ireland,” said Erasmus. “They are a strong team, ranked second in the world and as we saw last week they never stopped fighting, so we know how tough the challenge is that awaits us this weekend.”
“We have no doubt they will come back stronger this week.”
Erasmus’ bench was once again split 6-2 between forwards and defenders, with the only three players on the bench not involved in the last World Cup triumph – forward Gerhard Steenekamp, lock Salmaan Moerat and versatile defender Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Team: 15-Willie Leroux, 14-Cheslin Kolbe, 13-Jesse Krill, 12-Damien de Allende, 11-Kurt-Lee Arends, 10-Hande Pollard, 9-Favre de Klerk, 8-Kwaja Smith, 7-Peter-Steph du Toit, 6-Siya Kolisi (captain), 5-Franco Mostert, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 3-Frans Malherbe, 2-Bongi Mbonambi, 1-Ox Nche
Substitutes: 16-Malcolm Marx, 17-Gerhard Stinekamp, 18-Vincent Koch, 19-Salman Morath, 20-RG Snyman, 21-Marco van Staden, 22-Grant Williams, 23-Sasha Feinberg-Mgomezulu
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