FACTFILE: KWAGGA SMITH

Smith has began simply 19 of his 49 Tests thus far.

He is one in every of solely three Springboks to have attended Middelburg Hoër Tegniese Skool. The others have been Bakkies Botha and Andries Coetzee.

TEAM NEWS

Locks Franco Mostert and RG Snyman return to the inexperienced and gold jumper after lengthy spells on the sidelines because of harm in a robust group named by nationwide coach Rassie Erasmus, who named Eben Etzebeth as captain with Siya Kolisi beginning on the bench.

The 31-year-old Smith, who made his Springbok debut towards Wales in Washington in 2018 and went on to win two Rugby World Cup winner’s medals, will begin at No 8 as he celebrates this vital profession milestone.

7/1 bench cut up

Mostert returns to the group for the primary time since recovering from the damaged leg he suffered towards Ireland within the Incoming Series and Snyman is absolutely match after a foot harm sustained in Australia within the build-up to the primary Test towards the Wallabies within the Rugby Championship, which dominated him out of the group’s triumphant marketing campaign.

Erasmus opted for a cut up of seven forwards and one again on the replacements’ bench and made 11 adjustments to the beginning group that defeated Argentina of their closing Rugby Championship conflict in Nelspruit in September.

Fourteen gamers within the match-day squad featured within the match towards the Pumas.

There are 12 survivors within the 23 from the squad that final confronted Scotland (within the pool levels of final 12 months’s Rugby World Cup) – Mostert, Snyman, Etzebeth (lock), Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi (each hookers), Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Marco van Staden (all flankers), Jasper Wiese (No 8), Ox Nche (prop), Grant Williams (utility again) and Willie le Roux (fullback).

Smith begins his fiftieth match in a free trio with Elrigh Louw and Van Staden, whereas Mostert joins forces with Etzebeth, SA’s most capped participant of all time, within the engine room, the place he’ll prolong his file to 129 Test matches.

The group contains a fully new backline to the triumphant Rugby Championship match-day group in Nelspruit, with the one again retaining his place within the beginning group being scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse.

Veteran fullback Willie le Roux will take yet another step towards reaching the unique group of Springbok centurions when he runs on at fullback in what shall be his 98th Test match, whereas Makazole Mapimpi and Canan Moodie have been named because the wings, outdoors the midfield duo of Andre Esterhuizen and Lukhanyo Am.

RELATED | Willie le Roux on track to join Springbok Test centurion club

Hendrikse, in the meantime, will associate with the skilled Handre Pollard in an thrilling halfback pairing.

Erasmus loaded his bench with expertise with the seven forwards being the entrance row of Marx, Vincent Koch and Gerhard Steenekamp, with Snyman offering lock cowl and Kolisi, Du Toit and Wiese set to present the group a lift at free ahead.

Williams, in flip, who supplies cowl at scrumhalf and wing, is the one backline participant among the many replacements.

“This is a seasoned and quality team and adding to that 21 of the 23 players have won a Rugby World Cup title, with some having won two, so they know what it takes to perform at this level,” mentioned Erasmus.

“Many of those combos have additionally performed collectively this season both in the course of the Incoming Series and Rugby Championship, or each, which shall be useful towards a high quality group akin to Scotland.

“We are expecting an extremely physical match, so we opted for a seven-one split of forwards on the bench, and this was aided by the fact that we have such versatile players in the backline, who can cover different positions if necessary.”

Commenting on Smith enjoying his fiftieth Test Erasmus mentioned: “Kwagga is a vastly talented player and a fantastic team member, and I’m delighted to see him reach this big career milestone. It takes a special player who performs consistently well over a few years to reach this achievement, and Kwagga has certainly done so while maintaining the same high standards at training and on the field. We are very proud of him.”

Erasmus forecast one other fierce battle with the Scots: “They are ranked seventh on this planet they usually’re a group that by no means cease combating. They even have high-quality gamers of their squad, we all know it’s going to be an epic battle.

“In the Rugby World Cup final 12 months, we have been solely three factors up towards them at half-time, and with the brand new dynamic they’ve dropped at their sport, we all know it’s going to be an 80-minute battle.

“They’ll also have a passionate and vocal home crowd behind them, and we know what energy that brings to our team when we play at home, so that will boost them even more going into the match.”

The sport kicks off at 18:10 and shall be broadcast stay on SuperSport.

Prediction

Springboks by 13 factors

TEAMS

Scotland

15 Tom Jordan, 14 Blair Kinghorn, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu (captain), 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben White, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Matt Fagerson, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Grant Gilchrist, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Replacements: 16 Dylan Richardson, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Jamie Ritchie, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Stafford McDowall

South Africa

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 22 Jasper Wiese, 23 Grant Williams

Referee: Christophe Ridley (England)
Assistant referees: Luke Pearce (England), Craig Evans (Wales)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)

Who wins on Sunday – and by what number of?

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