Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has stuck to his tried and tested combinations for their third Castle Lager Rugby Championship encounter against the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.

Erasmus has made only four changes to the starting team that beat the Wallabies in Cape Town, with Jesse Kriel retaining the captaincy.

The changes see the return of South Africa’s most experienced player, Eben Etzebeth, to the starting XV in the engine room alongside Ruan Nortje, in what will mark his 136th Test, with the other two changes in the loose trio, where Siya Kolisi returns from a niggle in what will mark his second Test at No 8, while Pieter-Steph du Toit returns at flanker.

The only change in the backline is at fullback, where Willie le Roux will start his 101st Test after being forced to withdraw from the last clash against the Wallabies due to a niggle.

Erasmus made three personnel changes to the replacements bench, which features five forwards and three backs, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels taking over from Marnus van der Merwe at hooker, Kwagga Smith moving back to the bench in the void left by Etzebeth, and utility back Ethan Hooker featuring in his second Test in place of Andre Esterhuizen.

The settled squad includes a total of 17 players who featured against the Wallabies in Cape Town.

“We selected the best possible team we could for the match, knowing that this is going to be an epic encounter against the All Blacks at Eden Park, and many of these players have done the job for us before against them,” said Erasmus.

“This is obviously going to be a completely different challenge to what we’ve faced against them in the last two years, with the match being hosted in New Zealand, and also at a venue where they hold a fantastic record.

“That said, we’ve been working hard on the detail we wanted to iron out following the matches against the Wallabies since arriving in Auckland, so it’s now up to us to implement our plans and deliver a performance that we can be proud of.”

The Test holds vast significance as the Springboks attempt to register their fifth victory in a row against the All Blacks and break their hoodoo at Eden Park – where they last won in 1937.

Commenting on the decision to hand the captaincy to Kriel rather than regular skipper Kolisi, Erasmus said: “Siya was touch and go for the match earlier in the week after picking up a niggle a few weeks ago, and we didn’t want to risk him unnecessarily, but with Jean-Luc du Preez having picked up a niggle at training this week, Siya was the obvious choice to slot in at No 8.”

The match kicks off at 09h05 (SA time) and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

Springbok team to face New Zealand at Eden Park:

15 Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls) – 100 caps, 75 pts (15t)
14 Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath) – 42 caps, 111 points (18t, 3c, 5p)
13 Jesse Kriel (captain, Canon Eagles) – 82 caps, 95 points (19t)
12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 90 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls) – 16 caps, 40 pts (8t)
10 Handre Pollard (Vodacom Bulls) – 83 caps, 812 points (8t, 122c, 171p, 5dg)
9 Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 21 caps, 25 pts (5t)

8 Siya Kolisi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 94 caps, 65 points (13t)
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 89 caps, 60 pts (12t)
6 Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 29 caps, 15 pts (3t)
5 Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 9 caps, 0 pts
4 Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 135 caps, 35 points (7t)
3 Thomas du Toit (Bath) – 26 caps, 5 pts (1t)
2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 80 caps, 115 pts (23t)
1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 43 caps, 0 pts

Replacements:

16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 5 caps, 10 pts (2t)
17 Boan Venter (Edinburgh) – 3 caps, 5 pts (1t)
18 Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 20 caps, 0 pts
19 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 69 caps, 25 points (5t)
20 Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 55 caps, 50 points (10t)
21 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers) – 42 caps, 70 pts (14t)
22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 11 caps, 54 points (15c, 8p)
23 Ethan Hooker (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 1 cap, 0 points

Stats and facts:

Springbok record against New Zealand:
Played: 108, Won: 42, Lost: 62, Drawn: 4. Points for: 1 790; Points against: 2 235; Tries scored: 173; Tries conceded: 244. Win %: 38.8%.