‘Best Bok squad’ has blend of youth and experience, says Erasmus

There were very few surprises named by head coach Rassie Erasmus in the Springbok squad for their incoming series against Ireland and Portugal, which kicks off at Loftus next weekend.

The Boks take on Ireland in two Tests, in Pretoria and Durban, before playing a historic first Test against Portugal in Bloemfontein to round out the incoming series.

A 39-man squad was announced on Tuesday afternoon, featuring 27 players from last year’s Rugby World Cup winning squad, while six were ruled out of the series due to injury, namely Steven Kitshoff, Jean Kleyn, Lood de Jager, Jaden Hendrikse, Canan Moodie and Damian Willemse.

Two uncapped players who were also in the mix for selection, Bulls loose forward Cameron Hanekom and Lions centre Henco van Wyk were also ruled out due to injury.

Four uncapped players were included, namely Sharks loose forward Phepsi Buthelezi, Lions scrumhalf Morne van den Berg and Bulls duo, hooker Johan Grobbelaar and front rower Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Players who missed out on selection for last year’s World Cup but have made a return to the Bok squad include Evan Roos, Thomas du Toit, Gerhard Steenekamp, Salmaan Moerat and Aphelele Fassie.

Three players who made their Bok debuts against Wales over the past weekend, Edwill van der Merwe, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Ben-Jason Dixon, were all also included in the squad.

Captaincy dilemma

The Boks have yet to decide on a captain going forward and will only name one next week before the opening Irish Test, but Siya Kolisi is still in the mix as well as Pieter-Steph du Toit, who captained against Wales, Eben Etzebeth and Bongi Mbonambi.

“We named the best squad available for the incoming series. Unfortunately, a handful of players are carrying injuries and were ruled out of the selection mix, but our plan to build depth in the last few years and expose players to Test rugby in the build-up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup and against Wales last weekend certainly paid off,” said Erasmus.

All the Bok players were available for selection to the current squad, after the first squad of the season, a 35-man group that was named to prepare for the opening Test against Wales, didn’t feature any European-based players or Bulls players who reached the United Rugby Championship final.

Erasmus admitted having everyone back was great and a big boost to the team ahead of what is expected to be a bruising two games against Ireland.

“It’s great to have the overseas-based and Bulls players back in the mix and with many of them being Rugby World Cup-winners, they will bring experience and calm heads to the team,” said Erasmus.

“Over and above that, some of the young players who were part of our travelling squad to London really impressed us over the last two weeks, and while some of them have been included in this group, we were limited in terms of the number of players we could pick, so there will always be a few unlucky players.”