Springboks v All Blacks
Kick-off: 3am Sunday 1 September (NZT)
Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Live blog coverage on RNZ Sport
All Blacks TJ Perenara and David Havili are relishing this weekend's challenge of taking on the Springboks at Ellis Park. For Perenara, it's a fixture that he says is "something different".
"Playing South Africa in South Africa the stats show they're our biggest rivals. There's something different about playing South Africa. We understand the sort of opportunity it is to come over here, play them here, and hopefully beat them here," he said.
While Ellis Park has been described this week by one South African pundit as "an absolute cauldron of hell" for visiting teams, Havili actually has fond memories of the ground. The last time he played there, in 2022, he was awarded man of the match in a dramatic 35-23 All Black victory.
"You can definitely draw off it, but like every test week you've got to prepare your mindset, prepare physically for a team that will take you all the way to 80 minutes," the utility back said.
"I think every test match is special. Coming up against the best in the world, that's the challenge and that's what excites me. Being able to be in this opportunity is very special, we can draw off the experience of Teej, Sam Cane, Scott Barrett - those guys have been here before."
David Havili during the South Africa Springboks v New Zealand All Blacks rugby union test match at Ellis Park, 2022. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Perenara said the mood in the All Black camp this week had been good.
"We've come off a good win against Argentina, the group came together and played really well. I think understanding the opportunity we have here at Ellis Park, it's exciting for this group. Playing against South Africa who have been playing some amazing footy against the best teams in the world."
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named his team earlier on Tuesday and made special mention of Perenara when asked about how he's seen the way the All Blacks have been playing this season.
"He's a great coach," said Perenara when informed of the shout out.
"The way he leads his team, the way he creates a mindset for their environment. I think most people would agree he's done really well. The conversations I've had with him, I've always held him in high regard too and our respect as people has always been first. To hear him say that is cool."
Perenara is likely to be in the starting halfback spot when Scott Robertson names his side on Thursday afternoon NZT. Apart from Scott Barrett returning at lock after missing the Argentina tests with a broken finger, it's unlikely there will be too many more changes to the match day 23.
While a hostile environment awaits them, Perenara isn't fazed.
"The field is the same. Yes, the stadium's different, the fans are different and all of that, but our job and what we need to do on the field is the same."
Springboks: 1 Ox Nche 2 Bongi Nbonambi 3 Frans Malherbe 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit 5 Ruan Nortje 6 Siya Kolisi (c) 7 Ben-Jason Dixon 8 Jasper Wiese 9 Cobus Reinach 10 Sacha Ferinberg-Mngomezulu 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse 12 Damian de Allande 13 Jesse Kriel 14 Cheslin Kolbe 15 Aphelele Fassi
Bench: 16 Malcolm Marx 17 Gerhard Steenkamp 18 Vincent Koch 19 Marco van Staden 20 Elrigh Louw 21 Kwagga Smith 22 Grant Williams 23 Handre Pollard
All Blacks: TBC
