Hooker on bench for Eden Park

Ethan Hooker is making the most of his call up to the Boks and may feature later in the game from the bench. Canan Moodie is lucky to retain the 14 jersey after two poor performances against Australia (Hooker must be pushing hard for that). He is a talent but needs to rediscover the form from when he burst on the scene.

Willie le Roux will start at fullback with Jesse Kriel retaining the captaincy. Pollard retains the 10 jersey – so expect less Tony Ball and more kicking.

Ruan Nortje will start at 5 – he is most definitely our best lineout jumper. Interestingly Thomas du Toit has been selected at tighthead. I suspect his greater mobility and ground skills and the fact that scrum penalties are hard to manufacture these days count in his favour.

Jan-Hendrik Wessels has been selected as reserve hooker rather than Marnus van der Merwe.

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Siya Kolisi, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Bench: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ethan Hooker.