Lots of Boks unavailable for season opening Test: Here’s the full list

A minimum of 13 World Cup winners from last year will miss the Springboks’ opening rugby Test of the 2024 season, against Wales in London on June 22, with many more players potentially also out of the clash.

The Boks are 55 days away from that Test, but already coach Rassie Erasmus is making plans to fill the holes left by the unavailable players.

Varsity Cup prop Sampie Swiegers, from the North West University Eagles, has been called up to the second Bok planning camp, which will by a virtual get-together on Friday, while players like Aphelele Fassie and Phepsi Buthelezi, both from the Sharks, are said to be also on the invitee list.

Erasmus is covering his bases because all of the European-based South Africans are unavailable for the Wales Test, while there is a chance that the Bulls and/or Stormers will feature in the United Rugby Championship final that same weekend, ruling out several players.

Here one thinks of Manie Libbok, Damian Willemse, Frans Malherbe, Wilco Louw, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Willie le Roux and some others in the Bok picture.

Bok players out of Wales Test

The World Cup winners based in Europe who won’t be part of the Bok set-up until after the match on June 22 are: Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92), Marvin Orie (Perpignan), RG Snyman (Munster), Siya Kolisi (Racing 92), Jasper Wiese (Leicester), Cobus Reinach (Montpellier), Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins) and Handre Pollard (Leicester).

These players are unavailable for the Boks because the Test against Wales falls outside the international window, which means clubs are not required to release the players to their international teams.

Also, four World Cup winners from last year are on the injury list right now: Steven Kitshoff (knee), Jean Kleyn (eye), Marco van Staden (knee) and Deon Fourie (knee).

Duane Vermeulen has also retired from rugby since last year’s World Cup win in France and is now part of SA Rugby’s coaching set-up and thus likely to be involved in Erasmus’ Bok preparations later on.

Japan-based winners

There is, however, some good news for Erasmus and Co; the players who turn out in the Japanese Top League will all be available for the Wales match in London. The World Cup winners who fall into this category are: Malcolm Marx (who missed most of the World cup after a serious knee injury), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kwagga Smith, Franco Mostert, Faf de Klerk, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe.

There is a strong likelihood though that Erasmus may keep the majority of his World Cup stars from last year on ice until the two Test series against Ireland, with the matches on July 6 (Pretoria) and July 13 (Durban).

Those Tests will be followed by a one-off match against Portugal in Bloemfontein on July 20 where the majority of the players who featured against Wales in the season opener (June 22) will play again.