Springboks v All Blacks: Teams, kick-off times, officials and stats

The third round Rugby Championship match between the Springboks and All Blacks will be the first time since the Rugby World Cup final in Paris last year that the two teams will meet, with the second encounter taking place next week in Cape Town.

The match kicks off at 17:00 on Saturday and will be broadcast live on SuperSport, with the broadcast build up beginning at 16:00.

The Springboks have been boosted by the availability of Eben Etzebeth for this clash, while the All Blacks have also been bolstered as Scott Barrett returns to captain a side that also sees Sam Cane named at openside in what will be his first start since the Rugby World Cup final.

HOW THE SPRINGBOKS AND ALL BLACKS WILL LINE UP

Springboks (updated) – 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Subs: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Handre Pollard.

New Zealand: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Ethan Blackadder, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Tamaiti Williams.
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Sam Darry, 20 Samipeni Finau, 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Mark Tele’a.

Date: Saturday, August 31
Venue: Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Kick-off: 17.00 (15.00 GMT; 03.00 NZST Sunday, September 1)
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: Matthew Carley (England) and Jordan Way (Australia)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

Stats and facts:

Springbok record against New Zealand:
Played: 106, Won: 40. Lost: 62, Drawn: 4. Points for: 1 741; Points against: 2 196; Tries scored: 168; Tries conceded: 240. Win %: 37.7%

Miscellaneous:

• Frans Malherbe will extend his number of starts at tighthead prop to 61 Tests, trailing only Tendai Mtawarira (102) and Os du Randt (75).
• The centre pairing of Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende will extend their record of playing the most Test matches together in the midfield to 32 (the previous record was held by Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie with 29 Tests).
• Handre Pollard needs one conversion to become only the third Springbok to kick 100 two-pointers after Morne Steyn (102) and Percy Montgomery (153).
• Handre Pollard needs nine points to overtake Morne Steyn (742 points) and move into second place on the Springbok all-time scorers’ list. Percy Montgomery leads with 893 points.
• Should Malcolm Marx score a try he will move to 20 and into tenth equal place on the all-time Springbok try-scoring list with James Small. He is already the leading Springbok forward try scorer.
• Cheslin Kolbe needs four points to reach 100 points in Tests for South Africa.
• Should Kwagga Smith take the field, he will need only four more Test caps to join the club of Springboks with 50 Test caps.
• The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 632.
• There are 255 caps in the backline, with 377 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 286 caps.
• The average caps per player in the backline is 36, the forwards 47, while the players on the bench average 35.