The Springboks will win the Rugby Championship title if they secure victory over the All Blacks this Saturday and coach Rassie Erasmus has recalled experienced players such as Handre Pollard and Willie le Roux for the crucial encounter.

Erasmus’ latest team selection shows seven changes to the starting 15 from last weekend’s 31-27 win over the All Blacks, two of them positional, while the Springboks have returned to their traditional five-three split on the bench.

The match will start at 17:00 on Saturday.

SPRINGBOKS AND ALL BLACKS’ MATCH ON SATURDAY IS AS FOLLOWS:

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche
Backups: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, ​​18 Vincent Koch, 19 Kwagga Smith, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Lukhanyo Am

All Blacks: 15 Will Jordan, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett (vice-captain), 11 Mark Te’lea, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Ardie Savea (vice-captain), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Wallace Sitti, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Tyral Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Tamaiti Williams
Backups: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Sam Darry, 20 Luke Jacobson, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Anton Leinert-Brown, 23 Beauden Barrett.

Match details and officials

History: Saturday, September 7th
Space: Cape Town Stadium
To start: 17.00 (15.00 GMT; 03.00 NZST Sunday, 8 September)
Judge: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Jordan Way (Australia)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)

A win for the Springboks would also see them take a significant step towards winning the tournament for the first time since 2019 and Erasmus admitted it would boost their motivation.

“It would be great to achieve this as a team, but if you look too far ahead it will affect you negatively,” Erasmus said.

“Our focus all week will be to try to put in the best performance we can against New Zealand and try to right the wrongs of last week.

“New Zealand haven’t been the best team in the world for years for nothing. They are a terrific team and have shown in the past against us that you should never underestimate them. We saw how they bounced back against Argentina after losing the first game of the tournament.

“Also, the fact that Cape Town is a good hunting ground for them will motivate them; they will be inspired to make a strong statement this week.

“They have a lot to play for, as do we, so we know that the relationship between us will be more intense and tighter than ever. It will be a tough battle for 80 minutes.

Statistics and facts:

Springbok record against New Zealand:
Played: 107, Won: 41. Lost: 62, Draw: 4. Won: 1,772; Lost: 2,223; Scored: 171; Lost: 244. Win %: 38.3%.

Various:

• The centre duo of Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende will take their record for most Test matches played together in midfield to 33 (the previous record was held by Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie with 29 Tests).
• Handre Pollard needs nine points to move past Morne Steyn (742 points) into second place on the Springbok all-time scorers list, with Percy Montgomery leading the way on 893 points.
• If Malcolm Marx scores a try, he will move to 20, moving him into joint tenth place with James Small on the Springbok all-time try-scoring list. He is already the Springbok forward’s top try-scorer.
• Cheslin Kolbe needs four points to reach 100 points in Tests for South Africa.
• Eben Etzebeth is one game away from equalling Victor Matfield’s record as the most capped Springbok player (127 Tests). Etzebeth will be playing his 126th match^pearl Test.
• Willie le Roux to play 97^pearl The Test left him with a three-match lead in becoming the eighth Springbok to play in 100 years of Tests.
• Total Test match appearances for Springbok starting 11: 893.
• There is 387 hats in the back row, 506 hats among the forwards. There’s another one on the bench 242 covers.
• Average cost per back row player 55forwards 63The average of the players on the bench is 30.