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New Zealand will host South Africa at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday in the second round of the Rugby Championship.
In the US, the match begins early Saturday morning at 3:35 a.m. ET. It won’t be on regular TV in the United States, but you can watch New Zealand vs South Africa on ESPN+, the digital streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage of every Rugby Championship 2019 match, other live sports, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content for $4.99 per month.
You can sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the All Blacks vs Springboks on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
New Zealand vs South Africa Preview
New Zealand, who’ve won six of seven Rugby Championship titles since Argentina joined what had previously been the Tri Nations Series, narrowly bested Los Pumas 20-16 last week in each side’s tournament opener.
All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen excluded all Crusaders from that squad, as the franchise claimed the Super Rugby title two weeks prior.
“When you bring four different franchises, because the fifth one (the Crusaders) is back home, together like that you are always going to be a little bit rusty and there will be mistakes,” Hansen said, according to Stuff.
“But I was really pleased about, I thought our defense was outstanding. It was really physical and at times we attacked well but we just didn’t finish off the opportunities we created.”
Captain Kieran Read and instrumental cogs Owen Franks and Sam Whitelock — Crusaders with over 100 All Blacks appearances each — will return to the starting lineup on Saturday.
“There’s 300 test matches of experience, plus all the other guys have got plenty as well,” Hansen said, per Stuff. “To have the opportunity to have this ground to go through what they have today, it’s like winning the lotto.”
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus left 14 key players off the roster for South Africa’s 35-17 victory over Australia in Johannesburg a week ago, instead sending them to Wellington early.
“I guess people will look at the team we picked to play Australia and there could be a misinterpretation that we disrespected Australia but it was more to do with the respect we have for New Zealand,” Erasmus said, according to the Australian Associated Press.
“We think it will be a close game. There are massive expectations on both sides and excitement and also anticipation in seeing how much we have grown.
“People think we have a chance now and players react a little bit differently, so that will be interesting to see on Saturday.”
Teams:
New Zealand
15 Beauden Barrett; 14 Ben Smith, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane; 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 TJ Perenara; 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Matt Todd, 6 Shannon Frizell; 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick; 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Angus Ta’avao, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Dalton Papalii, 21 Aaron Smith, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 George Bridge
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Jesse Kriel