Siya Kolisi will continue to lead the Springboks, at least in the first couple of Rugby Championship Tests against the Wallabies in Australia next month.
Head coach Rassie Erasmus announced a 33-man squad yesterday for the tour Down Under with a welcome return for Bulls lock Ruan Nortje, who replaces the injured Franco Mostert. Two double World Cup winners, hooker Malcolm Marx and loose forward Pieter-Steph du Toit, are also back despite having picked up injuries recently against Ireland in a hard-fought two-Test series.
But their inclusion will be welcomed, especially with two tough matches expected in Brisbane on August 10 and Perth a week later. Erasmus selected 22 World Cup winners, while five of this year’s debutants also made the cut for the trip.
Players not considered due to injury include Mostert, Jean Kleyn and Lood de Jager (locks), Steven Kitshoff (prop), scrumhalves Faf de Klerk, Jaden Hendrikse and Herschel Jantjies, centre Canan Moodie, winger Edwill van der Merwe and utility back Damian Willemse.
No 8 Jaspier Wiese is still suspended while centre Andre Esterhuizen had his disciplinary hearing yesterday after he picked up a red card against Portugal.
“This is a quality group of players, which includes a mixture of youth and experience, and we believe it is the best group of players we could select for this tough assignment in the Rugby Championship,” Erasmus said at his squad announcement.
“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 Mostert opened the door for Nortje to make his comeback to the national team, and he brings a different type of experience as the captain of the Bulls.”
While the Boks won three out of their four Tests so far this year against northern hemisphere opposition, Erasmus expects the Rugby Championship to be a different challenge.
The Springbok coach was able to try out various combinations in certain positions but will switch to the tried and tested as they take on the Wallabies, All Blacks and Argentina. The second Test against the Aussies might tempt Erasmus to blood some more youngsters.
“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 is also a quality team, and we’ve seen historically that are a force to be reckoned with at home, while Argentina is a physical and competitive team and always pushes 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.”
Erasmus said that players left out, like No 8 Evan Roos, hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, loose forward Ruan Venter and prop Trevor Nyakane, will not be discarded.
They have been given special conditioning programmes to ensure they are ready should they get called up.
“As always, there are several 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.”
The Springbok squad
Forwards: Ben-Jason Dixon, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Thomas du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Johan Grobbelaar, Vincent Koch, Siya Kolisi, Elrigh Louw, Frans Malherbe, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Salmaan Moerat, Ox Nche, Ruan Nortje, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Gerhard Steenekamp, Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels; Backs: Lukhanyo Am, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Damian de Allende, Aphelele Fassi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Willie le Roux, Makazole Mapimpi, Manie Libbok, Handre Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Morne van den Berg, Grant Williams