Springboks kick off project 2027 by naming standby squad for Incoming Series

The Springboks are firmly kicking off their build-up towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia after they selected a standby group of 14-players for the Incoming Series against Ireland and Portugal, starting next weekend.

A main 39-man squad was named for the series on Tuesday, featuring 27 players that were in last year’s World Cup winning squad, while six of them were ruled out through injury.

A number of those world champions will be in their mid to late 30s by the time the next World Cup rolls around, and will thus possibly not be in line for selection depending on how their bodies and form hold up over the coming years.

Willie le Roux and Trevor Nyakane will both be 38 by the time the next World Cup starts, Vincent Koch and Makazole Mapimpi will be 37, and a host of players in the current squad will be 36 and 35 by then.

The Boks thus need to start planning for the future and that is evident in the main squad selected and in the 14-man standby group.

In the main squad there are four uncapped players, namely Phepsi Buthelezi, Morne van den Berg, Johan Grobbelaar, and Jan-Hendrik Wessles, while Edwill van der Merwe, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Ben-Jason Dixon made their Bok debuts against Wales over the past weekend.

Standby group

The 14-player standby group features six capped Springboks in Jean-Luc du Preez, Joseph Dweba, Elrigh Louw, Wilco Louw, Ntutukho Mchunu and Jordan Hendrikse.

Eight players are uncapped, namely Neethling Fouche, Celimpilo Gumede, Ruben van Heerden, Andre-Hugo Venter, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Ethan Hooker, Quan Horn and Siya Masuku.

All 14 of them will be players in the mix for selection if they keep their form up and stay fit by the time the 2027 World Cup arrives, and they will thus be eager to impress when given the chance to train with the main squad, and they will be hoping to get a run out in the Portugal game in Bloemfontein towards the middle of next month.

“We have a jam-packed three weeks lined up with training and the Ireland Test Series, and we’ll look at bringing in the standby players intermittently within the next few weeks to train with us,” explained Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.

“This is for them to continue to familiarise themselves with our systems, especially with an eye on the Portugal Test.

“This year marks the start of building towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup, so we would like to continue exposing players to international rugby with an eye on that objective.”