Springboks geared for 2 Test series against Ireland & once-off Test with Portugal
Double World Cup winners Siya Kolisi and Willie le Roux are back with the national team after missing out on last weekend's 41-13 win over Wales due to club commitments and the match falling outside of the international window.
Rassie Erasmus is confirmed as the Springbok head coach. Picture: @Springboks/X.
JOHANNESURG - Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has named a 39-player squad for their 2 Test series against Ireland and the once-off Test with Portugal in July.
Double World Cup winners Siya Kolisi and Willie le Roux are back with the national team after missing out on last weekend's 41-13 win over Wales due to club commitments and the match falling outside of the international window.
Fellow World Cup winners Marco van Staden and Kurt-Lee Arendse have also been included after wrapping up the URC season with the Bulls while wing Cheslin Kolbe and centre Lukhanyo Am, who were with the squad during the training camp in Pretoria to do their rehabilitation under the supervision of the Bok medical team – have been cleared to play.
Four uncapped players - hooker Johan Grobbelaar and front rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels, loose forward Phepsi Buthelezi and scrumhalf Morne van den Berg, feature in the squad. While three of the four players who made their debuts against the Welsh – Edwill van der Merwe, Ben-Jason Dixon and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu have been retained in the squad which includes 22 forwards and 17 backline players.
“We named the best squad available for the Series, and with squad depth being one of our key pillars as we build toward to the 2027 Rugby World Cup and the Test against Portugal, we thought it would be beneficial to us to name a standby squad with a few players who will join us at training sporadically in the next few weeks,” said Erasmus.
Meanwhile, eight players weren’t considered for selection due to injury, namely Steven Kitshoff, Jean Kleyn, Lood de Jager, Cameron Hanekom, Jaden Hendriks, Henco van Wyk, Canan Moodie and Damian Willemse.
The World Champions will play Ireland in 2 Tests on the 6th and the 13th of July as well as Portugal on the 20th. A captain for the team has not been named with an announcement expected in the week of the first Test against the Irish.
SPRINGBOK SQUAD TO PLAY IRELAND AND PORTUGAL:
FORWADS:
Phepsi Buthelezi, Ben-Jason Dixon, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Thomas du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Johan Grobbelaar, Vincent Koch, Siya Kolisi, Frans Malherbe, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Salmaan Moerat. Franco Mostert, Ox Nche, Trevor Nyakane, Evan Roos, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Gerhard Steenekamp, Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Jasper Wiese.
BACKS:
Lukhanyo Am, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Damian de Allende, Faf de Klerk, Andre Esterhuizen, Aphelele Fassi, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Wilie le Roux, Manie Libbok, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Morne van den Berg, Edwill van der Merwe, Grant Williams.
Erasmus also named an additional 14 players on a standby list:
FORWARDS: Jean-Luc du Preez, Joseph Dweba, Neethling Fouche, Celimpilo Gumede, Elrigh Louw, Wilco Louw, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Ruben van Heerden, Andre-Hugo Venter.
BACKS: Suleiman Hartzenberg, Jordan Hendrikse,Ethan Hooker, Quan Horn, Siya Masuku.