South Africa name side to face Ireland this weekend

Coach Heyneke Meyer has announced the South African team that will play Ireland in Dublin on Saturday in the first of Ireland’s Autumn rugby internationals.

There have been no changes made to the Springbok’s starting 15 that

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Meyer said he was delighted to be able to name an unchanged side.

“It’s only the fifth time in what will be the 34th Test since I was appointed as Springbok coach that we’ve been able to select an unchanged starting line-up,” Meyer told sarugby.net.

“In this day and age, not making changes to teams is pretty much unheard of, but this is a great position we’re in.”

However he also warned against complacency and said his team were preparing for a very difficult encounter in the Aviva on Saturday.

“We need to make it count against a very tough Irish side on Saturday,” he said.

“Although we won our last Test, the challenge this week is to make another step up. It’s imperative that we improve in all facets of our play.”

Head Coach Joe Schmidt is set to make the Irish team announcement on Thursday afternoon.

Springbok team in full:

15 Willie le Roux (21 caps, 35 points)

14 Cornal Hendricks (9 caps, 25 points)

13 Jan Serfontein (16 caps, 5 points)

12 Jean de Villiers (captain, 102 caps, 135 points)

11 Bryan Habana (103 caps, 280 points)

10 Handré Pollard (6 caps, 56 points)

9 Francois Hougaard (32 caps, 25 points)

8 Duane Vermeulen (25 caps, 10 points)

7 Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje (3 caps, 0 points)

6 Marcell Coetzee (22 caps, 25 points)

5 Victor Matfield (vice-captain, 117 caps, 35 points)

4 Eben Etzebeth (29 caps, 0 points)

3 Jannie du Plessis (60 caps, 5 points)

2 Bismarck du Plessis (66 caps, 45 points)

1 Tendai Mtawarira (61 caps, 10 points)

Replacements:

16 Adriaan Strauss (40 caps, 25 points)

17 Trevor Nyakane (9 caps, 5 points)

18 Coenie Oosthuizen (17 caps, 10 points)

19 Bakkies Botha (83 caps, 35 points)

20 Schalk Burger (73 caps, 65 points)

21 Cobus Reinach (2 caps, 0 points)

22 Pat Lambie (36 caps, 81 points)

23 JP Pietersen (56 caps, 85 points)