SportwayNews

World champions South Africa will field an unchanged team for the second Test against Ireland in Durban on Saturday.

Rassie Erasmus has named the most experienced starting XV in South African rugby history, featuring a combined 990 caps among the 15 players. Notably, 12 of these players were part of the squad that secured the Rugby World Cup final victory over New Zealand in October.

Siya Kolisi will lead the team as captain, while Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende will set a new record for the most Test matches played together as a centre pairing, marking their 30th appearance in midfield.

The Springboks secured a thrilling 27-20 win in their first match against Ireland on Saturday in Pretoria.

Springbok coach Erasmus acknowledged the challenge of facing Ireland, the back-to-back Six Nations champions, and expects a strong response from them.

"It's always tough facing Ireland," Erasmus said. "They are a quality team, ranked second in the world, and as we saw last week, they never stop fighting. We know the magnitude of the challenge that awaits us this weekend."

Erasmus emphasized the importance of building on their previous performance and addressing areas for improvement to secure victories in both matches.

Ireland will announce their team on Thursday, but they will have to make changes due to series-ending injuries to hooker Dan Sheehan and scrum-half Craig Casey sustained in Saturday's defeat in Pretoria.

South Africa's lineup for the upcoming match includes: W le Roux; C Kolbe; J Kriel, D de Allende; KL Arendse; H Pollard; F de Klerk; O Nche, B Mbonambi, F Malherbe; E Etzebeth, F Mostert; S Kolisi (captain), PS du Toit, K Smith.

Replacements: M Marx, G Steenekamp, V Koch, S Moerat, RG Snyman, M van Staden, G Williams, S Feinberg-Mngomezulu.