After two Tests in Australia, the Springboks are back on home soil, and will face the All Blacks at a sold out Ellis Park this Saturday. Kick off is at 17:00.
After two incredible renditions of the SA anthem prior to the two mid-year Tests against Ireland, with Keabetswe “KB” Motsilanyane particularly making headlines at Lofuts, there was another superb rendition of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika by Jody Williams in the one-off Test against Portugal.
It has now been confirmed to TheSouthAfrican that famed local group, the Mzansi Youth Choir, will be singing the SA national anthem prior to kick off this Saturday at Ellis Park.
The choir shot to fame on the world stage of America’s Got Talent in 2023, and they have performed at various high profile events ever since making it through to the AGT finale.
Ahead of this weekend’s Test at Ellis Park, you can see the choir performing a previous rendition of the national anthem below
Springbok team to face New Zealand in Johannesburg:
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 6 caps, 15 points (3t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 35 caps, 96 points (15t, 3c, 5p)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 73 caps, 80 points (16t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 82 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 19 caps, 85 points (17t)
10 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 6 caps, 33 points (12c, 3p)
9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 34 caps, 65 pts (13t)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 27 caps, 5 pts (1t)
7 – Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers) – 3 caps, 5 points (1t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92) – 86 caps, 55 points (11t)
5 – Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 2 caps, 0 points
4 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 81 caps, 45 points (9t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 73 caps, 5 points (1t)
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 72 caps, 70 points (14t)
1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 33 caps, 0 pts
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 69 caps, 95 points (19t)
17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 4 caps, 0 points
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 54 caps, 0 points
19 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 22 caps, 10 pts (2t)
20 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 6 caps, 0 points
21 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 45 caps, 40 pts (8t)
22 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 13 caps, 10 points (2t)
23 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 73 caps, 734 points (7t, 99c, 162p, 5dg)
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:
- The average caps per player in the backline is 36, the forwards 47, while the players on the bench average 35.
- 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.
