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The All Blacks have humiliated the Springboks in the final round of the Rugby Championship, running away the winners by 42 points.
» Click here to read the full match report
Final score
Springboks 15
New Zealand 57
This Sunday morning game sees New Zealand travelling to Durban to play South Africa. Join The Roar from 2:05am (AEDT) for all the live action of this Rugby Championship sixth round match.
New Zealand have already secured the Rugby Championship trophy for the 2016 season and will be looking at continuing on their impressive momentum and securing a record-equalling seventeenth victory in a row with an eye to besting the New Zealand record in a fortnight at Eden Park.
South Africa have endured a disappointing season so far but a victory over the All Blacks will go some way in restoring some pride to the jersey and give the faithful something positive looking forward.
For New Zealand, Sam Whitelock starts at lock in place of Patrick Tuipolotu who drops out of the 23, Matt Todd swaps places with Ardie Savea to start while Savea takes his place on the bench, Jerome Kaino returns from injury, pushing Liam Squire to the bench and Waisake Naholo returns to the starting side with Julian Savea dropped from the match day squad in the notable changes from last week’s side.
South Africa have recalled Faf de Klerk at halfback for the unavailable Rudy Paige in an otherwise unchanged 23 from last week’s match against the Wallabies, Coach Allister Coetzee again opting for a 6/2 bench split and a powerful reserve set of forwards and perhaps indicating a desire to beat the All Blacks up front.
Interestingly, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has not opted for specialist lock cover on his bench, instead deciding on two loose forwards in Liam Squire and Ardie Savea with the obvious intention of injecting pace toward the latter stages of the match.
There are several key match-ups to look forward to however there are none bigger than the battle between the starting second rows of Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock for New Zealand and Eben Eztebeth and Pieter Steph du Toit for South Africa.
A mouth-watering match up here between these two dynamic sets of locks with plenty of size, power and skill to burn and their respective performances tonight will be a major factor for this match along with the lineouts, an area likely to be hotly contested with two of the best in the business going at it.
Tip – New Zealand by 9. South Africa will be a huge challenge for New Zealand this evening but I simply cannot see where the Springboks will find enough points to overcome the All Blacks.
Join us here on The Roar as we cover all the action live from 2:05am AEDT.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.