Springboks team changes hand Cheslin Kolbe a Cape Town start
Cheslin Kolbe will start on the right wing in Cape Town. He is fit, cleared, and back. The bigger call sits one channel inside him, where Handré Pollard’s withdrawal has reopened the Springboks’ oldest argument.
The Springboks team changes, confirmed on Friday morning, are twofold. Cheslin Kolbe returns on the right wing and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu starts at fly-half for the second Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test against the All Blacks at DHL Stadium on Saturday 29 August 2026.
Kolbe came off during last week’s opening Test in Johannesburg with a knock. He has come through the week. Kurt-Lee Arendse drops out of the matchday squad entirely to make room.
READ ALSO: What the first Test in Johannesburg already told us about this series
Two Springboks team changes, one Friday morning assessment
Pollard picked up a niggle in training on Wednesday. He was reassessed on Friday morning, and the decision was taken then to withdraw him.
That is a short line on a team sheet and a long one in a Test week. A No.10 lost just over a day before kick-off does not get replaced; the shape around him gets rebuilt.
The No.10 jersey nobody has held down
Feinberg-Mngomezulu reclaims the shirt he wore against Argentina and again at Ellis Park last week. This is not an emergency promotion. It is a third consecutive start.
Which answers the argument the intro left open, at least for Saturday. The Springboks are no longer choosing between Pollard and Sacha out of caution — they are choosing on form. Whether that holds once Pollard is fit again is the question this series keeps refusing to settle.
Manie Libbok joins the bench as fly-half cover, alongside scrum-half Morné van den Berg.
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The 23 that takes the field at DHL Stadium
Springboks — revised: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (captain), 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nché.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 André Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Morné van den Berg, 23 Manie Libbok.
What happens next
Kick-off is 17:10 local time on Saturday at DHL Stadium. No return date has been given for Pollard.
Kolbe or Arendse on the right wing when both are fit — which one starts your Boks XV?
