Right from the kickoff against Wales, it was clear that the Boks aimed to keep the ball in hand more with quick passes along the backline.
Brown might have influenced the decision to start Esterhuizen over De Allende. At first glance, Esterhuizen appeared to have had an average game against Wales, but there might be more to his performance than initially meets the eye.
Esterhuizen didn't make any barnstorming runs, he executed two quick passes in traffic that were part of try-scoring moves, and he was involved in backline manoeuvres where his positional play helped the backs to run unpredictable lines creating space by drawing in the defence
In contrast, De Allende is generally less effective at organizing his backline, even when he is used merely as a dummy runner for a skip pass. A big strong horse that excels in the tight phases, but lacks the brains to take the best option based on the situation when there is space to go wide