Ken Borland

South Africa will field an unchanged starting XV when they play New Zealand in their final Rugby Championship match in Soweto on Saturday.

Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer on Wednesday named the same team that beat Australia 31-8 in Pretoria last weekend and made just one change to the replacements bench with versatile prop Coenie Oosthuizen replacing Pat Cilliers. Oosthuizen injured his neck when he made his test debut against England in June and has played just 35 minutes of rugby since then, appearing for the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup.

The 23-year-old looked set to make his international return last weekend when Meyer named him on the bench, but he was withdrawn from the squad later in the week due to concerns that he had not yet fully recovered from his neck injury. Oosthuizen consulted a neurosurgeon on Tuesday and was given the all-clear to continue playing.

“Our players are our greatest assets and I’m happy to have Coenie available again this weekend,” Meyer said. “We will always consider the players’ welfare first which is why we decided to get several opinions on Coenie’s neck.”

Fullback Zane Kirchner (hip), flyhalf Johan Goosen (heel), prop Jannie du Plessis (stiffness) and flank Willem Alberts (hip) rested niggles during training this week but Meyer said he was confident the injury bogey would not disrupt the first unchanged starting XV he has been able to name all year.

“I’m positive everyone will be fit, most of them trained well this morning. We’ve been hit hard by injuries this year, but thanks to the great work done by our medical team, we’ve managed to sort out a few of the little niggles left over from the Wallaby match for our final Test on home soil this year,” Meyer said.

The 20-year-old Goosen once again starts at flyhalf and Meyer said it would be a tough challenge for the youngster to face the world champions in just his second start at pivot.

“The New Zealand back three are superb, especially the way they read the game, and they’re very good under the high ball. So it’s not going to be easy for Johan to kick tactically against them, it’s going to be a tough learning curve for him.

“He will improve though as he gains experience, as he plays more, and he’ll get better at seeing space,” Meyer said.

The Springbok coach warned that even though playing at Soccer City Stadium in front of 90 000 home fans, and at altitude, carried some weight for the South Africans, they would still need to be near-perfect in their execution in order to beat the All Blacks.

“It’s a great stadium and it’s great to be on the highveld, that helps. But the All Blacks are a quality side, they know how to win even when they don’t play well and they have the mindset that they can win away because they’ve done it so many times.

“If we’re going to beat them, we have to kick at an 80%-plus success rate, we have to convert our pressure into points, defend unbelievably and take every chance. The players have to pitch up, be mentally strong and physically tough,” Meyer said.

Soccer City was the venue for the 2010 football World Cup final and was where fullback Israel Dagg scored a long-range try to snatch a last-gasp 29-22 victory for New Zealand over South Africa later that year.

“I am sure the All Blacks will come out blazing because maybe they underestimated us a bit in Dunedin after we had struggled in the first half of the year. They won’t do that again and they looked back at their best against Argentina. I am sure their confidence will be high,” Meyer warned.

Team – 15-Zane Kirchner, 14-Bryan Habana, 13-Jaco Taute, 12-Jean de Villiers, 11-Francois Hougaard, 10-Johan Goosen, 9-Ruan Pienaar, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 7-Willem Alberts, 6-Francois Louw, 5-Andries Bekker, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: 16-Tiaan Liebenberg, 17-Coenie Oosthuizen, 18-Flip van der Merwe, 19-Marcell Coetzee, 20-Elton Jantjies, 21-Juan de Jongh, 22-Pat Lambie.

New Zealand are expecting South Africa to play with more width than in their previous meeting when they clash in a Rugby Championship Test in Soweto on Saturday, assistant coach Ian Foster said on Tuesday.

The All Blacks scraped past the Springboks 21-11 in Dunedin on September 15 with the visitors missing 20 points at goal.

But the South Africans bounced back to form with a morale-boosting 31-8 win over Australia in Pretoria last weekend, scoring five tries.

“They seem to have the intent to play with more width than they did against us in Dunedin and they may chuck a few different things at us on Saturday. We’ll need to assess where the threats are and make the adjustments.

“If you want to play expansive rugby, then there is the risk of errors and we’ve been through that process. It’s not something that comes naturally,” Foster told reporters in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

But the All Blacks are also expecting the Springboks to still bombard them with high kicks on the highveld.

“We still expect high balls and a tough physical battle through the forwards. Some things don’t change,” Foster said.

“We pride ourselves under the high ball, but the Springboks have put us under pressure with it in the past and they punish you if you drop it. Plus it goes a lot higher at altitude! We’ll have to work together as a unit at the back,” fullback Israel Dagg added.

The All Blacks also won in fine style at the weekend, beating Argentina 54-15 in La Plata to clinch the Rugby Championship title, and the world champions said the small details that had been lacking in the campaign thus far seemed to have clicked against the Pumas.

“We were pretty satisfied but the margins are still very small.

The pack definitely stepped up in Argentina and it was great to see the plans finally come together,” hooker Keven Mealamu said.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer on Monday pronounced himself “very satisfied” with the Springboks’ 31-8 weekend win over Australia, but said they would have to be even more clinical to beat New Zealand in Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test in Soweto.

“It was a good performance, definitely the most satisfying of the year. We were clinical at times, but we’ll need to be even more clinical against the All Blacks and, if the game opens up, probably use the ball even more,” Meyer told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday.

“That was the type of rugby we want to play. This is a very special group of players, they’ve only had seven weeks of coaching and there’s a lot of youth in this team.

“I always knew this first year would be tough, but winning all of our home games was one of our goals,” the new Springbok coach said.

While Meyer, who firmly believes in continuity in selection, would like to choose an unchanged team for the match against the All Blacks, injuries could disrupt the much-improved backline.

Flyhalf Johan Goosen, who added a much-needed spark at flyhalf, is struggling with a bruised heel, while fullback Zane Kirchner’s hip was injured when Wallaby centre Adam Ashley-Cooper knocked himself out on it in tackling the dreadlocked player into the touchline to prevent a try on the stroke of half-time in Pretoria.

“I have a long-term plan and it’s important that I show the players that I believe in them and reward their good form.

“But we kept Johan out of training today. It’s important that he’s 100% on Saturday because, to beat the All Blacks, you have to kick at an 80% success rate and our kicking hasn’t been great this year,” Meyer said.

The coach also praised scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar for doing much to help Goosen in his first start at flyhalf.

“Ruan was great in taking the pressure off Johan. His tactical kicking and his service was awesome and it’s important for us that our scrumhalf plays well,” Meyer said.

The midfield combination of captain Jean de Villiers at inside centre and new cap Jaco Taute outside him is likely to stay as is because Francois Steyn is being sent for surgery on Wednesday.

Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts described the surgery as “the right thing for his long-term career prospects”.

“Frans has quite a few loose pieces of bone in his ankle and every now and then one of them gets lodged in the joint, causing him excruciating pain. As a long-term solution, we’re sending him for surgery to have it cleaned out on Wednesday. Unfortunately that means he will be out for three months and he will miss the end-of-year tour,” Roberts said.

Prop Coenie Oosthuizen, who was initially named on the bench for the Test against Australia after just 35 minutes of action following a neck injury, will see a specialist for a second opinion on his fitness on Tuesday.

“Again, we want to ensure we make the right long-term decision and I’m not happy with his neck, he still has some quite significant symptoms, especially stiffness,” Roberts said.

Flank Jacques Potgieter has also been released due to an abdominal strain and Meyer has called up the uncapped duo of Lions centre/wing Lionel Mapoe and Bulls loose forward Arno Botha.

Meyer said the statistics from Saturday’s win show that territory does still trump possession in terms of value.

“At this level you need to play a tactical game and we only had 45% possession against Australia. Our defence was also the best it’s been the whole year, we made 178 tackles compared to their 109, and we had a 96% completion rate, we only missed seven tackles,” Meyer said.

“Our lineout was also great and I’m very happy with our forwards, especially our loose forwards who are working very well together.”

Meyer said the Springboks’ whole game plan against the All Blacks would be geared towards stopping them from launching their fast-paced, expansive strategy.

“Playing at home, there’s always more pressure to run the ball, but that’s what New Zealand like because it gives them turnovers and they punish you. You will never beat New Zealand at their own game, you’ll never out-run them. You have to put pressure on them, especially at the breakdown, in defence and with your kicking game,” Meyer said.

New Zealand have already clinched the inaugural Rugby Championship title, but they would love to complete an unbeaten campaign by beating South Africa in Soweto on Saturday, according to two of the All Blacks forwards.

The All Blacks sealed the Rugby Championship crown with their 54-14 drubbing of Argentina in La Plata at the weekend, taking them to 21 points on the standings.

The second-placed Springboks rebounded from disappointing results on the road to hammer Australia 31-8 in Pretoria and go to 12 points.

“We’ve won the Rugby Championship, but we’ve parked that and we’re now focused on winning in South Africa. If you talk to the older guys, they’ll tell you it’s more rewarding winning here than beating the Springboks at home. The guys that have been around a while really love testing themselves against the best here, it’s one of the toughest places to win,” loose forward Sam Cane told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday.

Lock Sam Whitelock also stressed the importance of the All Blacks maintaining their winning streak that now stretches to 15 games going back to the start of their triumphant World Cup campaign last year.

“It’s really nice that we’ve put the trophy away, but this weekend will be a massive challenge. It would be great to start off a new competition with a clean sweep.

“Last year didn’t go so well for us in Port Elizabeth and South Africa are always hard to beat at home. But that’s the beauty of international rugby, you have to perform week in and week out. All you need is one game to not go well and all your good work can unravel,” Whitelock said.

Whitelock admitted that the All Blacks were surprised by Argentina’s more expansive approach in La Plata, the Pumas having pushed the world champions hard three weeks earlier when Wellington reserved her worst weather for the game. But he doubted the Springboks would make the same mistake.

“We were a little surprised that they kept the ball in hand so much, having troubled us in the first game with different tactics. But then again, the weather in Wellington was pretty terrible that night.

“But we’re expecting a typical All Blacks/Springboks Test on Saturday, with massive body collisions. It will surely be physical, the body will take a bit of a hammering,” he said.

Cane was also expecting the Springboks to attack them at close quarters.

“They have a big focus on the gain line, as we all do, but they really target the cleanouts and big collisions, they bring a lot of heat there,” Cane said.