De Allende and Kriel To Break Bok Record At Kings Park

Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel will become the most-capped centre pairing in Springbok history when they run out in the second Test against Ireland at Kings Park on Saturday.

The pair will combine in the midfield for the 30th time, breaking the previous record set by Jean de Villiers and Jacque Fourie (29). De Allende has also linked up with Lukhanyo Am on 28 occasions, putting them third all-time, followed by De Wet Barry and Marius Joubert on 18, with Hennie le Roux and Japie Mulder and Adrian Jacobs and De Villiers rounding out the top five on 14.

Rassie Erasmus has opted for continuity by naming an unchanged matchday 23 to the one that won last weekend’s first Test against the Six Nations winners 27-20 at Loftus Versfeld.

It is the most experienced starting XV in South African history with a total of 990 combined Test caps, surpassing the 987 caps amassed by the run-on team in the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand in France last year.

Fast facts

• Frans Malherbe will start at tighthead prop for the 59th time, which moves him one clear of Jannie du Plessis into third on the list for the most starts at prop, behind Tendai Mtawarira (102) and Os du Randt (75).
• Cheslin Kolbe needs four points to reach 100 points in Tests for South Africa.
• Kwagga Smith is only seven Test caps away from earning his 50th Test cap after this match.
• Willie le Roux needs only five Test caps after Saturday’s match to join the select club of Springbok centurions.
• There are 419 caps in the backline, with 571 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 190 caps.
• The average caps per player in the backline is 59, the forwards 71, while the players on the bench average 23.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.