Victory for South Africa over England will mark their first unbeaten northern hemisphere tour since 2013; the last time they beat England in London was in 2014; the Springboks won their last meeting in the World Cup final in Yokohama two years ago.
Tuesday 16 November 2021 12:37, UK
South Africa made three changes to their side to take on England at Twickenham on Saturday, restoring fly-half Handre Pollard and lock Lood de Jager to the starting line-up.
Herschel Jantjies is replaced by Cobus Reinach, who starts a Test for the first time since the Rugby Championship clash against Argentina in August.
Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber described the changes as rotational, but scrum-half Jantjies struggled in wins over Wales and Scotland and drops to the bench after being substituted at halftime of Saturdays 30-15 win at Murrayfield.
Pollard replaces Elton Jantjies and De Jager comes in for Franco Mostert in straight swaps from the 23-18 win over Wales.
"We built up good momentum in the tests against Wales and Scotland and it's important for us to transfer that into our final match of the tour against England, so we opted to make only three changes," Nienaber said.
"England will pose a different threat to Scotland, and with that in mind we've decided to start with Handre, Cobus and Lood.
"Elton, Herschel and Franco have shown they can inject energy and ignite a spark in attack off the bench, which will be handy against an English outfit we know will be highly charged up for this match."
"England have made it clear they'll come hard at us. With a few British & Irish Lions players in their midst, home advantage and a new record of eight wins in a row against Australia adding to their motivation, it'll be a hard grind," Nienaber added.
"We'll enter the match equally motivated, especially with the opportunity to retain our status as the top team in the world for a third successive season."
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 1 Ox Nche, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 3Trevor Nyakane, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Lood de Jager, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 7 Kwagga Smith, 8 Duane Vermeulen
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn.
