Pollard starts against Tonga
Rienaber has gone for a rare 5-3 split on the bench with both Handre Pollard and Manie Libbok in the squad. Bongi is rested with Deon Fourie and Marco van Staden selected at hooker.
Eben Etzebeth (risky IMO) starts along with Marvin Orie with Franco Mostert covering lock on the bench. Andre Esterhuizen and Canan Moodie will feature in midfield with Grant Williams again selected as wing.
Played | Log Points | Points Difference | |
Ireland | 3 | 14 | 122 |
South Africa | 3 | 10 | 86 |
Scotland | 3 | 10 | 97 |
A win against Tonga is non-negotiable, and a bonus point would be recommended should Scotland achieve an unlikely BP win against Ireland. Ireland and Scotland put Tonga away, but both teams used close to their first choice teams.
Normally head-to-head counts as the first tie breaker so should South Africa and Scotland both end up with 14 SA will go through. However in the unlikely scenario that all 3 teams end on 15 log points, points difference will be the tie breaker as SA beat Scotland, Ireland beat SA and Scotland would have to beat Ireland with a BP to get 15 log points. In that unlikely scenario should SA have beaten Tonga by at least 36 points, they would have end up topping the pool.
The Boks will want to target a bonus point win tonight with at least a 19 point margin. That would require Scotland to score 4 tries and beat Ireland by at least 8 points. A 24 point winning margin will mean the Boks are safe no matter what happens in the Ireland-Scotland game.
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Grant Williams, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Jesse Kriel, 23 Manie Libbok