De Allende hits 100 as Erasmus blends experience and youth for showdown

Springbok centre Damian de Allende will become the 10th player in history to earn 100 Test caps for the Springboks in the opening Test of the inaugural Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series at Ellis Park on Saturday (5.10pm).

The team named by coach Rassie Erasmus shows a mix of continuity in selection from the Boks’ 17-10 win against Argentina two weekends ago and a host of players who remained behind in South Africa.

The majority of the players named, including captain Pieter-Steph du Toit, began their preparations for the series in Johannesburg last week while the rest of the squad travelled to Buenos Aires for the clash against Los Pumas.

The only two players who retain their places in the starting XV from the Argentina Test are lock Eben Etzebeth and flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Seven players from the last clash — Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Marco van Staden, Cobus Wiese (all utility forwards), Gerhard Steenekamp, Zachary Porthen (both props), André Esterhuizen (flanker and centre), and Cobus Reinach (scrumhalf) — have been included on the bench.

You can’t build up to #RugbysGreatestRivalry at Ellis Park without Pat Lambie’s iconic penalty in 2014 👏Three more nights until Test one is here! pic.twitter.com/83J3OJ37DO— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 19, 2026

Feinberg-Mngomezulu will join forces with Grant Williams at halfback. Wings Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Damian Willemse (fullback) form the back trio. Completing the quality backline are the record-breaking centre pairing of De Allende and Jesse Kriel.

Ox Nché makes a welcome return from injury and will partner Wilco Louw and Malcolm Marx in the front row. Etzebeth reunites with Ruan Nortjé in the engine room, and Paul de Villiers, Du Toit, and Jasper Wiese have been named as the loose trio.

Erasmus retained the same replacement front row from two weeks ago of Wessels, Steenekamp and Porthen, with Cobus Wiese, Van Staden, and Esterhuizen also providing forward cover, while the two specialist backs are Reinach and flyhalf Manie Libbok.

“The All Blacks are a quality team, and we selected combinations we think would be best suited to the challenge this weekend,” the coach said.

“The squad is well balanced with players who remained in South Africa to train for this series and some of the players who featured against Argentina.

Damian De Allende raises his bat as the #Springboks name a settled side for the opening match of #RugbysGreatestRivalry – more here: https://t.co/wnA3URrOkM 🤩Limited tickets available here: https://t.co/uBngZcGS7g 🎟️Stream every Bok Test LIVE on DStv: https://t.co/qFpxGWMbDp… pic.twitter.com/sVXjEgeYiq— Springboks (@Springboks) August 20, 2026

“It certainly helped to have some players return from injury last week and to get back into top-flight Test rugby, while some of the others who had a heavy workload in the Nations Championship had sufficient time to recover from the physical toll on them.

“The whole group has now been together for over a week, and we are all aligned regarding the way we want to play this weekend.”

Flanker and regular captain Siya Kolisi did not make the squad, having recently returned from injury.

“Siya trained well with us this week, and though we could have selected him for this clash, we thought it would be best to select Paul [De Villiers] for this weekend’s game,” Erasmus said.

“We are playing four Tests against the All Blacks, and Paul has been playing well, so we are excited to give him a chance in his first Test against New Zealand while taking a precautionary approach to Siya’s return.”

Dave Rennie names his All Blacks team to face the Springboks in Test one of #RugbysGreatestRivalry at Ellis Park 🇳🇿🚨 pic.twitter.com/IKRPUqWui7— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 20, 2026

New Zealand coach Dave Rennie named loose forward and captain Ardie Savea, halfback Cam Roigard and outside back Will Jordan to make their first appearances of the tour in the opening Test. Damian McKenzie has also returned from injury to start at fullback.

“We have selected a balanced mix of big-match, experienced players and younger players who have earned the right to play in this first Test,” Rennie said.

“The first three franchise [tour] games have exposed our newer players to the way South African teams play and have been fantastic in helping us build combinations and develop the game we want to play.”