South Africa hooker Du Plessis back to face All Blacks

The hooker was one of two changes announced on Wednesday to the starting line-up for the Rugby Championship decider at Ellis Park where South Africa must score four tries and win by more than seven points to snatch the title from the world champion All Blacks.

Juandre Kruger replaced injured lock Flip van der Merwe and a third change is possible if centre JJ Engelbrecht does not recover from injury in time.

If he does not, Jan Serfontein will get his first start for the Springboks.

Du Plessis was benched for last Saturday's 28-8 win over Australia in Cape Town in what coach Heyenke Meyer said was a pre-arranged move.

Two weeks before that Du Plessis was sent off against the All Blacks in Auckland after earning a second yellow card, although there was widespread condemnation of the first caution from French referee Romain Ponte for a tackle on flyhalf Dan Carter for which the hooker was later exonerated.

South Africa lost 29-15 but felt they might have made a better contest of it had they not been reduced to 14 men early in the second half.

Englebrecht is struggling with a quad muscle injury but will be given time to prove his fitness, Meyer said in a statement.

"But if he can't make it, Jan (Serfontein) will start with Juan (de Jongh) on the bench."

Kruger's elevation back to the startling-line up in the second row openes up a place on the bench for uncapped Franco van der Merwe, likely to get a debut run as a replacement on his home ground.

"Franco's attitude since day one has been fantastic, he's waited patiently and always stayed positive, which is what we as a team stand for," the coach added.

Team: 15-Zane Kirchner, 14-Willie le Roux, 13-JJ Engelbrecht or Jan Serfontein, 12-Jean de Villiers (captain), 11-Bryan Habana, 10-Morne Steyn, 9-Fourie du Preez; 8-Duane Vermeulen, 7-Willem Alberts, 6-Francois Louw, 5- Juandre Kruger, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 1-Tendai Mtawarira

Replacements: 16-Adriaan Strauss, 17-Gurthro Steenkamp, 18-Coenie Oosthuizen, 19-Franco van der Merwe, 20-Siya Kolisi, 21-Ruan Pienaar, 22-Pat Lambie, 23-Jan Serfontein or Juan de Jongh.