Rassie Erasmus names powerful Springboks squad with one surprise for Rugby Championship
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and lock Ruan Nortje.
Siya Kolisi will captain the Springboks’ 33-man squad for their upcoming Rugby Championshp campaign which kicks off against the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday, 10 August.
Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus has included 22 Rugby World Cup winners in the squad while five players who made their Test debuts in 2024 – Jan-Hendrik Wessels (utility forward), Johan Grobbelaar (hooker), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (utility back), Ben-Jason Dixon (utility forward) and Morne van den Berg (scrum-half) – have also been called up.
One newcomer in the squad
The only newcomer to the group is Bulls second-row Ruan Nortje, who has one Springbok cape after making his Test debut against Wales in 2022 and he also played for the South Africa ‘A’ side in November that year.
All the other players were in action during the Boks‘ four Tests of the season against Wales at Twickenham or during the recent Incoming Series – against Ireland in Pretoria and Durban as well as Portugal in Bloemfontein.
The following players were not considered for selection due to injury or rehab: Jean Kleyn, Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert (all locks), Steven Kitshoff (prop), Faf de Klerk, Jaden Hendrikse, Herschel Jantjies (scrum-halves), Canan Moodie, (utility back), Edwill van der Merwe (wing) and Damian Willemse (utility back).
Meanwhile, Jasper Wiese (number eight) is suspended and Andre Esterhuizen (centre) awaits a disciplinary hearing after his dismissal in Saturday’s 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.
