By George ByronSizzling game-breaker Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been named at fly-half to direct operations for the Springboks when they collide head-on with an explosive All Black outfit in Joburg on Saturday.Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been paired with livewire scrumhalf Grant Williams in a combination that offers exciting attacking options for the Boks in the opening Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series at Ellis Park (kickoff 5.10pm).Bok coach Rassie Erasmus, who delayed his team announcement until Thursday to keep the All Blacks guessing about his game day plans, has named a side brimming with explosive pace in the back division and brute strength among the forwards.In a landmark moment that will be played out in front of an expected 62,000-capacity crowd, centre Damian de Allende will become the 10th player in history to earn 100 Test Springbok caps.The majority of the players named in the Springbok team — including captain Pieter-Steph du Toit — began their preparations for the series in Joburg last week as the rest of the squad travelled to Argentina for the clash against Los Pumas.The only two players who retain their places in the starting XV from the Argentina Test — which the Boks won 17-10 — are Eben Etzebeth and Feinberg-Mngomezulu.Damian de Allende. Picture: Gallo Images (Anton Geyser) “The All Blacks are a quality team, and we selected combinations we think would be best suited for the challenge this weekend,” Erasmus said.“The squad is well balanced with players who remained in South Africa to train for this series and some of the players who featured against Argentina.“It certainly helped to have some players return from injury last week and to get back into top-flight Test rugby, while some of the others who had a heavy workload in the Nations Championship had sufficient time to recover from the physical toll on them.“The whole group has now been together for over a week, and we are all aligned regarding the way we want to play this weekend.”Commenting on the omission of Siya Kolisi, the regular Springbok flanker and captain, Erasmus said: “Siya trained well with us this week, and although we could have selected him for this clash, we thought it would be best to select Paul de Villiers for this weekend’s game.“We are playing four Tests against the All Blacks, and Paul has been playing well, so we are excited to give him a chance this weekend in what will be his first Test match against New Zealand, while taking a precautionary approach to Siya’s return.“We have a solid group of players, and each one deserves their place in the squad, so we will approach team selection week by week.“We are all very excited for Damian, and to achieve this milestone in this series makes it even more special.“He’s a great team man and servant to the game, so we hope we can make it a memorable day for him. “That said, his focus all week has only been on this match, and he will certainly not let the occasion shadow what he has to do on the field.”The teams:South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (capt), 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Cobus Wiese, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.New Zealand: 1 Ethan de Groot, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Josh Lord, 5 Fabian Holland, 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 7 Luke Jacobson, 8 Ardie Savea (capt), 9 Cam Roigard, 10 Ruben Love, 11 Josh Moorby, 12 Jordie Barrett, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 14 Will Jordan, 15 Damian McKenzie. Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Anton Segner, 20 Peter Lakai, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Leroy Carter.
Sizzling Sacha gets fly-half nod for All Blacks clash
De Allende will win his 100th Test cap as the Boks open RGR series
















