Cape Town - There are few giving the Springboks a chance in Saturday's (09:35) Rugby Championship clash against the All Blacks in Christchurch, but Kieran Read knows better.
The All Blacks No 8 and captain has featured in 14 Tests against the Boks since 2009, winning 10 of them, and he has seen enough to know that a clash against South Africa is never easy.
"Any Springbok game in New Zealand is epic. We know they're going to be fired up for the game, so we're looking forward to it," the 30-year-old told Allblacks.com.
Read also expected the Boks to be a more dangerous outfit due to their struggles in recent times.
"We know how tough the Springbok team is and even a wounded team that's coming off a couple of losses ... they'll be doing everything they can to turn up and it's always a big test for us so we expect that," he said.
Teams:
New Zealand
15 Ben Smith 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody
Substitutes: 16 James Parsons, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Matt Todd, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown
South Africa
15 Johan Goosen, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Damian de Allende
Kieran Read: "Any Springboks Test in New Zealand is epic"#NZLvRSA #RugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/dVMGF8xJQe
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) September 16, 2016