Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has made another stunning selection call to boost his squad ahead of their two Ruby Championship encounters with the All Blacks.
In the squad announcement made Tuesday, it was confirmed that the Springbok coach has opted to increase the playing group from 33 to 37 men for the two sold out Tests against their arch-rivals, at Ellis Park in Johannesburg (31 August) and the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town a week later (7 September).
And with somewhat of a mini-crisis at lock, Erasmus recalled a second rower who last played Springbok rugby three years ago.
With locks Franco Mostert, Lood de Jager, Jean Kleyn still on the injured list and Salmaan Moerat and RG Snyman also nursing niggles picked up against Australia, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg — who played his first and only Test match against Argentina in Port Elizabeth in 2021 — earned his first call-up back to the national squad.
The 30-year-old one-time capped Springbok lock played Super Rugby for the Bulls from 2013 to 2016 before moving to French club Montpellier, where is still active.
RASSIE EXPLAINS SURPRISE SELECTION
“As a team we are in a good position in terms of squad depth with 32 of the 33 players on tour playing against the Wallabies – the only exception was RG Snyman who suffered a foot niggle – and we have full faith in the young players to showcase their talent once again against a completely different opponent in New Zealand,” Springbok boss Rassie Erasmus said.
“Adding to that, all these players, with the exception of Nicolaas, were members of our training squad in Pretoria in July and our alignment camps earlier in the year, and they’ve have been regular members of the squad in the last few years, so they understand our systems and should slot in with ease.
“Nicolaas has had a good season with Montpellier and is a capped Springbok, so we are excited to welcome him back into the fold.”
SPRINGBOKS SQUAD TO TAKE ON THE ALL BLACKS:
Springboks — Thomas du Toit, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Frans Malherbe, Ox Nche, Gerhard Steenekamp, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Eben Etzebeth, Salmaan Moerat, Ruan Nortje, RG Snyman, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Ben-Jason Dixon, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Elrigh Louw, Kwagga Smith, Marco van Staden, Jasper Wiese, Jaden Hendrikse, Cobus Reinach, Grant Williams, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie Libbok, Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Andre Esterhuizen, Jesse Kriel, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Aphelele Fassi, Cheslin Kolbe, Willie le Roux, Makazole Mapimpi, Canan Moodie.
