The All Blacks make three changes to the starting XV that won at Ellis Park last week, with all three players promoted from the bench.

After prop Ethan de Groot and lock Josh Lord banged heads in Johannesburg, there are changes in the pack.

George Bower, who helped stabalise the scrum in the second half last week, gets a start at loosehead prop while Tupou Vaa’i, who was excellent in the 6 jersey, shifts to the second row.

Simon Parker joins a settled back row alongside the impressive Luke Jacobson and captain Ardie Savea. Leroy Carter replaces Josh Moorby on the left wing.

Patrick Tuipulotu comes onto the bench, while Xavier Numia replaces Bower among the replacements.

Otherwise, the All Blacks retain the core of the side that did the business, including the half-back pairing of Cam Roigard and Ruben Love who are growing in confidence together.

New Zealand: 15 Damian McKenzie; 14 Will Jordan, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Leroy Carter, 10 Ruben Love, 9 Cam Roigard; 1 George Bower, 2 Codie Taylor, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 4 Fabian Holland, 5 Tupou Vaa’i, 6 Simon Parker, 7 Luke Jacobson, 8 Ardie Savea (captain).

Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Xavier Numia, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Peter Lakai, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 Josh Moorby.

Pieter-Steph du Toit – in my opinion the greatest Springbok of all time – wins his 100th cap today.

That’s not the only milestone as Ox Nche plays for the 50th time at prop.

Siya Kolisi is back to skipper the side while Ethan Hooker replaces the injured Kurt-Lee Arendse to add more heft and height on the wing.

Cheslin Kolbe was delcared fit midweek to continue his role as the primary goal kicker and Cobus Reinach replaces Grant Williams at scrum-half.

Handre Pollard picked up a niggle in training so Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu starts at 10.

When he comes off the bench, Deon Fourie, the replacement hooker, will become the oldest Springbok at at 39 years and 338 days.

South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse; 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach; 1 Ox Nche, 2 Malcolm Marx, 3 Wilco Louw, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Ruan Nortje, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 8 Jasper Wiese.

Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Andre Esterhuizen, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Morne van den Berg, 23 Manie Libbok.

Has it only been a week since the first Test?

On Monday, 48 hours after his side failed to turn dominance into points in a humbling 16-33 loss to the All Blacks in Johannesburg, Rassie Erasmus named his team for the second dig.

On the starting line-up were were 16 players as he waited on the fitness of skipper Siya Kolisi, who has only played 24 minutes of Test rugby this year. The talisman was then given the all clear to share a field with another double World Cup winner, fly-half Handre Pollard.

Except the metronomic 10 with a laser scope in his right boot picked up a ‘niggle’ on Wednesday and was hooked from the side. So Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had a stinker at Ellis Park, was drafted back into the mix.

All the while New Zealand’s coach Dave Rennie questioned the legality of South Africa’s scrum tactics. Oh, Nika Amashukeli, who was supposed to referee the game, failed to recover from an illness and has been replaced by Angus Gardner. Oy vey!

As the fun and games unfolded, the discourse on social media – admittedly a toxic place at the best of times - grew ever more febrile. We’ve been told so many times that these two rugby nations respect each. That no other rivalry in rugby, perhaps all sport, is basted in this much respect. Well, a glance online shows that things are fraying at the edges.

This just shows how much it all means to both sets of coaches, players and supporters. One could argue that this is the most important game for the Boks since their one point win over New Zealand in the World Cup final three years ago.

Their claim to global dominance hangs by a thread. They simply cannot afford to lose this one. On the other hand, the All Blacks know that they are on the cusp of something quite extraordinary.

Cape Town Tests are usually stodgy affairs though the rain seems to have held out. Still, it won’t necessarily be a pretty thing this afternoon. Whoever wins it will have to dig deep and go to some dark places.

We’ll find out who comes out on top once things kick off at 3:10 pm local time/4:10 BST.

Teams and other updates to come. Feel free to write in. I’d love to hear from you.