10 Springbok stats and facts

For Saturday's international match against Italy in Florence.

– The total Test caps in the starting lineup are 509 – of this 250 are in the backline and 259 among the forwards. The combined Test caps of those on the bench are 86. The average Test caps per player in the match 23 are 26.

– The youngest player in the match-day squad is Lood de Jager (23 years and 10 months), while the oldest member of the team is Bryan Habana (33 years and five months).

– The tallest player in the squad is Lood de Jager (2.05m), the shortest Faf de Klerk (1.72m)​, the heaviest Steven Kitshoff (125kg) and the lightest Faf de Klerk (80kg).

– With the concussion suffered by Eben Etzebeth in the Test against England he was unavailable for selection, thus ending his long run of 31 consecutive Test matches.

– Adriaan Strauss and Tendai Mtawarira will play in their 10th consecutive Test in the starting XV under Allister Coetzee’s reign.

– Of the 23 players, Bryan Habana is the most capped against Italy with six Tests. He will become the most-capped Springbok against Italy in this Test with his seventh appearance.

– Tendai Mtawarira will play in his 90th match in the Springbok jersey. This Test will be his 86th, while he played in four tour games in his career.

– Italy and South Africa will meet for the 13th time since their first Test in 1995. South Africa won all previous 12 Tests.

– In 1999 South Africa won the Test against Italy in Durban 101-0, the second-highest winning margin in the history of South African Test Rugby.

– It will be George Clancy’s 10th appearance as referee in Test matches involving South Africa. The Springboks won six of the previous nine with him in charge.

Photo: Springboks

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