Thursday 6 November 2014 14:20, UK
South Africa head coach Heyneke Meyer has named his team to face Ireland on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium.
Meyer has kept faith with the starting side that defeated New Zealand in Ellis Park last month, with his only change coming on the bench as prop Coenie Oosthuizen replaces the injured Marcel van der Merwe.
With Ulster scrum-half Ruan Pienaar ruled out through injury, Francois Hougaard continues in the No 9 shirt with the inexperienced Cobus Reinach named among the replacements.
“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,” said Meyer.
“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, we need to make it count against a very tough Irish side on Saturday.
“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.”
South Africa have won on their last two trips to the Aviva Stadium, including a 16-12 success in 2012.
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Francois Hougaard; 1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 8 Duane Vermeulen.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Bakkies Botha, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 JP Pietersen.
Watch Ireland v South Africa live on Sky Sports 2 on Saturday from 5pm
