Springbok captain Duane Vermeulen speaks at a media conference yesterday
The capital will become the first real battleground in the fight for the Rugby World Cup tonight, with the All Blacks taking on their traditional rivals South Africa. Both sides are due to play each other in the pool stage of the tournament in Japan later this year, so tonight’s match will be a vital psychological blow for the victors.
Steve Hansen has named an interesting side to take the field, with the main talking point being the shift from first five to fullback for Beauden Barrett, allowing Richie Mo’unga to wear the number 10 jersey. This puts both men on the field to start a test for the first time, however it must be noted that this positional switch is a regular occurrence in the last quarter of most test matches that Mo’unga has been named in off the bench.
Tonight also sees the return of Sonny Bill Williams from injury. One would have to think this is very much one of the last chances the big manhas to prove himself in a very crowded midfield picture. He pairs up with the consistent Jack Goodhue, who has committed to growing possibly the dirtiest mullet in All Black history. His flowing blonde flap will be looking to gas through a few gaps tonight.
TJ Perenara gets a start in his home town, he sat out last weekend’s test in Buenos Aires. Like the midfield, the halfback spot is again stacked with talent, so this may well be Perenara’s chance to improve his place on the depth chart. Aaron Smith will come off the bench, but Brad Weber will be watching on with interest too. There is very little, form-wise, between the three.
The other big area of contention is that of the blindside flanker role. Since Liam Squire has made himself unavailable, neither Vaea Fifita nor Shannon Frizell has emerged as a true successor. Both men are outstanding players, but will need to have a huge game against either the Boks or Wallabies to really cement the position. It’s led to talk of Kieran Read moving to 6, and Ardie Savea taking over at the back of the scrum.
Read is up against the powerful Duane Vermeulen, who leads the Springboks for the first time. Vermuelen is back in the South African picture after spending the last four seasons in France, and will have fond memories of playing at Westpac Stadium. In 2014 he had one of the most dominant performances of his career in a very tough 14-10 loss to the All Blacks and leads a side tonight that won their last match at this stadium.
Vermeulen teams up with the mobile Kwagga Smith in the forward pack, as coach Rassie Erasmus has gone for a balance of pace and power. In the second row Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert will combine to take on a heavy workload at set piece, and up front Malcolm Marx will provide a massive challenge for the All Black defence when he gets his hands on the ball.
All Blacks v Springboks, Westpac Stadium, 7:35pm tonight
Springboks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen (c), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Bench: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Jesse Kriel
All Blacks: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane, 10 Richie Mo'unga, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Kieran Read (c), 7 Matt Todd, 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody
Bench: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Ofa Tuungafasi, 18 Angus Ta'avao, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Dalton Papalii, 21 Aaron Smith, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 George Bridge