Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber has named an unchanged team for Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final against England in France.
Nienaber has retained the same starting XV and eight substitutes that beat France 29-28 in last week’s quarter-final in Paris.
“We’ve been building a quality Rugby World Cup squad for the last few years so that we could be in this position going into the knockout matches,” said Nienaber.
“We have a squad of 33 players, all of whom are very closely matched in terms of their skill and quality of play which made it tempting to make changes this week and it was tough to select this group both last week and this week.
“But we feel it’s now time to go with the players in the squad who we believe are in their best form.”
England beat Fiji during the quarter-finals stage of the tournament to reach this semi-final. England lost the 2019 Rugby World Cup final to reigning champions South Africa.
“Like us, they are one game away from a World Cup final and we’ve seen through the history of the tournament that England raise their game for these matches,” added Nienaber.
“We are closely matched in terms of average player age and caps, both teams are used to playing on the biggest stage. This is do-or-die if either of wants to the lift the trophy next week, so neither side will give an inch.”
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Starting XV: 15. Damian Willemse, 14. Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13. Jesse Kriel, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Cheslin Kolbe, 10. Manie Libbok, 9. Cobus Reinach, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6. Siya Kolisi (captain), 5. Franco Mostert, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Bongi Mbonambi, 1. Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16. Deon Fourie, 17. Ox Nche, 18. Vincent Koch, 19. RG Snyman, 20. Kwagga Smith, 21. Faf de Klerk, 22. Handre Pollard, 23. Willie le Roux.
