Patrick Lambie will lead a new-look Springbok team, which includes six uncapped players in the starting line-up and a number of Currie Cup stars, against the Barbarians at Wembley Stadium in London.
World Rugby has unveiled the shortlists for seven top awards, including the men's and women's sevens players of the year, to be presented at the World Rugby Awards 2016 dinner in London on 13 November.
England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have announced their sqauds for the various November Tests in Europe against the All Blacks, Pumas, Springboks and Wallabies.
Several promising young players who have shot to prominence on the domestic scene this year, have been included in the 30-man Springbok squad for the international clash against the Barbarians on 5 November at the Wembley Stadium in London.
Blackout and the statistcis prove it ! The 2016 Rugby Championship saw the conquering All Blacks win an historic perfect clean sweep – winning all six matches with six bonus points.
New Zealand equalled the record of 17 consecutive Test wins with a 57-15 victory over the Springboks at Kings Park. They also completed a perfect Rugby Championship clean sweep – six wins six bonus points.
New Zealand has won its last 16 Test matches and other than the aim of recording a clean sweep in this year’s Rugby Championship it will also be aiming to equal the record for consecutive Test wins by a Tier One Nation.
All Black selectors have brought fresh players back into the playing group which they deem vital at this time of the year as they expect to be facing a very confident South African team after their win over Australia.
Having already wrapped up the 2016 Rugby Championship title it is no surprise that a host of the All Blacks squad feature prominently in the player rankings this season.
Georgia will host the tournament for the first time. The pool stages will be played on 31 May, 4 and 8 June, with the semi-finals on 13 June and the final at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi on 18 June.
The match day 23 features just two changes from the team that played Argentina last weekend: Ardie Savea comes in for the injured Sam Cane in the starting 7 jersey, with Matt Todd coming into the 23 as loose forward cover; while Lima Sopoaga comes into the match day 23, replacing Aaron Cruden, who has a groin strain.
Pieter-Steph du Toit and Vincent Koch are included in the Springbok starting line-up to face the All Blacks at AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday, when Francois Louw will play in his 50th Test for South Africa.
