Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has named his team for Saturday's Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand at the Stade de France.READ | Bongi cleared!
World Rugby finds 'insufficient evidence' in racism allegationFaf de Klerk and Handre Pollard will form a new halfback partnership, replacing Cobus Reinach and Manie Libbok respectively.Both Reinach and Libbok are out of the squad completely.
De Klerk and Pollard will become the most capped halfback combination in Springbok history. The pair start together for the 25th time, moving past Joost van der Westhuizen and Henry Honiball (24 Tests).They are among a starting team which features 10 players who started in the World Cup final four years ago and is the most experienced in Springbok history with a combined total of 987 caps (eclipsing the record set the previous week against England of 895 Test caps).The rest of the Bok starting XV is unchanged form the one which started in last weekend's 16-15 semi-final win over England.Hooker Bongi Mbonambi is also free to start at hooker after World Rugby could not find any evidence to charge him for a racial complaint aired by England flanker Tom Curry.
Visit News24's Rugby World Cup 2023 zone for fixtures, pools, profiles, top stories The Springboks also opted for a 7/1 forwards/backs bench split - as they did when they beat the All Blacks 35-7 in a World Cup warm-up game at Twickenham in late August.That means there's no spot on the bench for Reinach and Libbok, with Willie le Roux the only backline reserve.No 8 Jasper Wiese and lock Jean Kleyn are drafted onto the bench, having been among the non-playing squad last week.