Pollard back for crunch test

Rassie has made major changes to the side that got walloped by the Wallabies at Ellis Park. Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe and Handré Pollard start in the back line, with Jean-Luc du Preez, Franco Mostert, Ruan Nortje, RG Snyman and Thomas du Toit starting in the pack. Marnus van der Merwe comes onto the bench with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu covering a number of back line positions.

I expect the Boks will shelve Tony Ball for this game – seeing as they overdid it in the previous game. I really like Tony Ball. I do hope they continue with it in future – perhaps just more judiciously.

The back line apart from Cheslin and Grant lacks speed – could be a worry handling the speedy Aussie outside backs on defense. The field in Cape Town will be heavy though – so may negate the speedy players to some extent.

The Boks main downfall at Ellis Park was arrogance. After the great start and 22-0 up the Boks hit a wobble on attack – losing lineouts and getting killed at the breakdown. At this point they should have started managing the game and taking 3 pointers on offer. Unfortunately they continued as if they were playing Italy B or Georgia. At the end they were out of their feet and easy pickings.

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Bench: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Lood de Jager, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu