Gloucester Rugby second row Franco Mostert will start for South Africa in Saturday’s clash against the All Blacks in Wellington.

Head Coach Rassie Erasmus has made wholesale changes to the side that defeated Australia 35-17 in Johannesburg last weekend, with only lock Eben Etzebeth, wing Makazole Mapimpi and flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit retaining their places in the starting XV.

The changes aren’t unexpected given that Erasmus split his squad into two last week ahead of the Australia game, sending a number of players straight to New Zealand to prepare.

Erasmus, understandably is expecting a massive challenge:

"We have the utmost respect for the All Blacks who are the undisputed No 1 rugby team in the world.”

"We know we will have to be at our very best to be competitive against the All Blacks on Saturday and that is why we have sent a group of players in advance to Wellington, so they could acclimatise after the long trip over from South Africa.

"The New Zealanders are a very experienced and settled side while we have some catching up to do in terms of where the two sides are at the moment.

"They are bringing back their Crusaders players, who were all rested after the Vodacom Super Rugby final, so we are in for a huge battle against the best team in the world."

Springboks:

15 Willie le Roux; 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi; 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk; 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Kwagga Smith; 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Eztebeth; 3 Frans Mahlerbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff.

Reserves:

16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Franco Mostert named in Springbok side to face All Blacks

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