Jacques Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus have elected to go for that 7/1 split on the bench, proving that they will take the game to the All Blacks through the forwards.

By doing that they have gambled on not having a dedicated backup flyhalf as Manie Libbok will be watching the match from the stands. While not expected, if something happens to Handré Pollard it will take some serious reshuffling of the backline to manage that.

Speculation that some of the reserves from last week will come on in the run-on team has proven to be wrong.

Bringing on the reserves early last week means that a player like Eben Etzebeth had a shorter match which could prove to be important this week.

The weather forecast for Saturday has remained the same all week. Rain showers all day with low temperatures and a fairly strong wind. Another reason why the Springboks need the toughest possible forwards.

1 Steven Kitshoff, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 3 Frans Malherbe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (C), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Duane Vermeulen