Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus opted for a tried and tested combination for the clash against England at Ellispark on Saturday at 17:40 (SA Time) in Round 1 of the inaugural Nations Championship competition.
“England are a quality outfit, and we are expecting them to give everything they have in this match, so it was important to select a squad with experience combined with a few younger players, who have proved that they have what it takes to perform at this level,” said Erasmus.
“The players have worked very hard at training, and they know what it takes to perform against a side of this calibre with a good coaching team, so we hope they can transfer that effort onto the field on Saturday.
“It was great to have a run against the Barbarians and Zimbabwe last week because it afforded some of our players some valuable game time, but this weekend will be a different prospect altogether.
“England are a settled team; they come off a Six Nations campaign earlier in the season, and, similarly to us, they will also want to have a good start to this exciting new competition, so we are expecting it to be a bruising encounter.”
The Bok coach was delighted for Kolbe and Willemse on achieving this special milestone in their careers and said: “They have both been stalwarts for us over the years, and as a team we would like to make it a memorable day for them. It’s not every day you have two players playing their 50th Test, so that will certainly add to our motivation this week.
“That said, England will come to Johannesburg as determined as ever, so it’s going to be a hard grind of a match, which will require us to be accurate in every facet of the game and convert the opportunities we create into points, but they will have the same mindset, so we need to hit the ground running if we want to do well.”