There’s a late change to the Georgia team to face the Springboks in the first Test at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

The Georgians announced that Ilia Spanderashvili has been moved to the starting XV at flank, Giorgi Tsutskiridze suffered a minor injury during training.

Irakli Tskhadadze will take Spanderashvili’s spot on the bench.

Tonight’s match kicks off at 19:00 (South African time).

Teams:

South Africa

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Rosko Specman, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Aphelele Fassi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche

Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Damian Willemse

Georgia

15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze (captain), 11 Demur Tapladze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 9 Vasil Lobzhaidze, 8 Tornike Jalagonia, 7 Beka Saginadze, 6 Ilia Spanderashvili, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Gigauri Davit, 3 Giorgi Melikidze, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Guram Gogichashvili

Substitutes: 16 Giorgi Chkoidze, 17 Nikoloz Khatiashvili, 18 Luka Japaridze, 19 Nodar Cheishvili, 20 Giorgi Javakhia, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Giorgi Babunashvili, 23 Irakli Tskhadadze

Noteworthy information ahead of Friday’s Test between South Africa and Georgia at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria:

Facts and Stats

It will be the Georgians’ first trip to South Africa to face the Springboks.

• This match marks the second time these two nations meet – the first was in their pool match at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, which the Springboks won 46-19.
• Frans Steyn requires nine more points to reach the milestone of 150 Test points.
• Elton Jantjies is one penalty goal short of his 50th for the Springboks – and should he achieve this feat, he will match Naas Botha in fifth place for the most career penalty goals.

Head to head v Georgia

Miscellaneous

The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 550.

• There are 236 caps in the backline with 314 caps amongst the forwards. On the bench there are a further 174 caps.
• The average caps per player in the backline are 33, the forwards 39 while the players on the bench average 21.

Match officials

The referee is Mike Adamson of Scotland. This will be his first Test as a referee of a match involving South Africa and his second career Test match.

• The assistant referees are Wayne Barnes of England and Marius van der Westhuizen of South Africa. Marius Jonker of South Africa is the TMO.

news24