Francois Louw at eight for Springboks

Editor

Damian de Allende, Francois Louw and Steven Kitshoff are back in South Africa‘s side for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with New Zealand.

De Allende has shrugged off his shoulder injury that forced him to miss last weekend’s win over the Wallabies in Port Elizabeth and takes over the 12 jersey from Andre Esterhuizen.

Louw is back in the frame having returned from club commitments with Bath and will start at number eight, while Sikhumbuzo Notshe will play off the bench.

Kitshoff is part of the starting front-row in a straight rotational switch with the experienced Tendai Mtawarira, who will provide impact off the bench. Vincent Koch is also set to play an impact role after he was named amongst the replacement forwards, in place of Wilco Louw.

The rest of the team that defeated Australia last weekend was kept unchanged, with Willie le Roux set to play in his 50th Test for South Africa.

“Damian has trained very well and took full contact this week, so he is ready,” said Rassie Erasmus, Director of Rugby.

“Notshe played well against the Wallabies last weekend and will offer us something different when he goes on, but Flo (Louw) has a lot of experience and is good on the ground.”

Erasmus added that he is looking forward to seeing Koch get another run in the Springbok jersey.

“Vincent has learnt a lot from playing in Northern Hemisphere conditions and I am sure he is very keen to pull on that Green and Gold jersey again,” he said.

“He has a burning desire to play for the Springboks and I am delighted for him as we continue to build our squad depth.”

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Francois Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Damian Willemse

Date: Saturday, October 6
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 17:05 local (16:05 BST, 15:05 GMT)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Matthew Carley (England)
Television match official: Graham Hughes (England)

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