Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named a strong 33-man squad led by double Rugby World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, which kicks off against the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday, 10 August.
Twenty-two of the 33 players are Rugby World Cup-winners, while five 2024 debutants are included in the squad in Jan-Hendrik Wessels (utility forward), Johan Grobbelaar (hooker), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (utility back), Ben-Jason Dixon (utility forward) and Morne van den Berg (scrumhalf).
The only newcomer to the group is lock Ruan Nortje, who made his Springbok debut against Wales in 2022 and represented the SA ‘A’ side in November that year. All the other players featured in the team’s opening four Tests of the season against Wales at Twickenham or during the Castle Lager Incoming Series.
Among the players not considered for selection due to injury or rehab were Jean Kleyn, Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert (all locks), Steven Kitshoff (prop), Faf de Klerk, Jaden Hendrikse, Herschel Jantjies (scrumhalves), Canan Moodie, (centre), Edwill van der Merwe (wing) and Damian Willemse (utility back). Jasper Wiese (No 8) is suspended, and Andre Esterhuizen (centre) awaits a disciplinary hearing after being sent off in the 64-21 win over Portugal on Saturday.
“This is a quality group of players, which includes a mixture of youth and experience, and we believe this is the best group of players we could select for this tough assignment in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship,” said Erasmus.
“We rested some players before the match against Portugal to recharge for this competition and we are excited to see the energy they’ll bring back to the squad. We’ve also included a few younger players who made a strong statement in the Tests we played so far this season.
“The injury to Franco Mostert opened the door for Ruan Nortje to make his comeback to the national team, and he brings a different type of experience as the captain of the Vodacom Bulls.”
Erasmus lauded the younger players in the group for the strong statement they made this season, and he looked forward to seeing what they had to offer in what will be a vastly different challenge against Australia, New Zealand, and Argentina.
“We were very impressed with the likes of Salmaan Moerat (who became the 66th Springbok captain against Portugal), Dixon, Grobbelaar, Wessels and Feinberg-Mngomezulu when they received a chance to play this season,” said Erasmus.
“While this may be a very different challenge to facing Wales, Ireland and Portugal, we have full faith in the players to make another big step-up against the southern hemisphere teams, who play a different type of rugby to the sides we’ve faced up to now.
“As always there are a number of unlucky players, but we could only select a squad of 33 to travel to Australia. The players excluded from the squad will be available for selection for their respective clubs, but we explained to them before we departed Bloemfontein that this squad is not necessarily the same group that will be selected for the matches against New Zealand and Argentina, so they have been put on specialised conditioning programmes to ensure they are ready should they get the call-up.”
The Bok coach expected a challenging Castle Lager Rugby Championship and said: “We faced New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup final and won by a point, and we all know how tough the competition and rivalry is between the teams.
“Australia are also a quality team, and we’ve seen historically that are a force to be reckoned at home, while Argentina are a physical and competitive team and always push us to the limit, so we are under no illusions about what lies ahead.
“But we’re also excited to launch this new edition of the tournament and test ourselves against the southern hemisphere sides once again.”
The Springboks will face Australia in Brisbane and Perth on 10 and 17 August respectively, before returning to South Africa to play back-to-back matches against New Zealand on Saturday, 31 August in Johannesburg, and 7 September in Cape Town. They will then take a short trip to Argentina to face Los Pumas in Santiago on Saturday, 21 September, before wrapping up the tournament in Nelspruit against Argentina on Saturday, 28 September.
The team will then travel to the UK for their traditional northern hemisphere tour in November where they will line up against Scotland (10 November), England (16 November) and Wales in Cardiff (23 November).
The year-end tour will be preceded by a one-week training camp in Jersey – one of the largest of the Channel Islands between England and France – where the team will have the luxury of acclimatising to the conditions, while at the same time focussing on their conditioning and preparation for the tour.
The Castle Lager Rugby Championship squad will assemble in Johannesburg on Sunday for a short preparation camp before departing for Australia on Wednesday 31 July.
Springbok squad for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship (in alphabetical order):
Forwards: Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), Thomas du Toit (Bath), Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls), Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Siya Kolisi (captain – Racing 92), Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls), Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers), Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Salmaan Moerat (DHL Stormers), Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs), RG Snyman (Leinster), Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls), Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls), Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls).
Backs: Lukhanyo Am (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls), Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers), Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls), Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers), Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers), Cobus Reinach (Montpellier), Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions), Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks).
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