Aphelele Fassi is back in the No 15 jersey this weekend. Picture: Steve Haag / Gallo Images
Coach Rassie Erasmus has picked a formidable matchday-23 for Saturday’s one-off Test against England at Twickenham, making 12 changes in all to the side that beat Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend.
All the first-choice players rested for the game in Edinburgh are back this week, with Siya Kolisi captaining a side with 767 Test caps in the starting lineup and a further 359 on the bench.
These are the five biggest talking points of Erasmus’ selection.
It’s not a surprise really that the younger Fassi has got the nod for this match, considering how wonderfully he has played this season, in the absence of Damian Willemse. He’s grabbed every chance with both hands and is now one of the settled men in the Bok backline.
He replaces Le Roux, who impressed against Scotland last week, for the England game, meaning the veteran Le Roux is stuck on 98 Test caps. He will thus feature at some stage next season to get to 100, even if he features against Wales in Cardiff next week, which would leave him on 99.
Fassi may not have the kicking game Le Roux has, but he’s the best back under the high ball and brings pace, vision and skill to the Boks’ attacking game.
The 18-cap World Cup winner from 2023 has been selected from outside of last weekend’s matchday squad to start at No 10 against England. He replaces Handre Pollard (78 caps), who’ll sit on the bench this week.
While Libbok is a wonderful attacking player, who seems to get the best out of his backs, there are question marks about his goal-kicking, so it will be interesting to see who kicks at goal on Saturday. The other option is Cheslin Kolbe.
But the selection of Libbok suggests the Boks will look to continue to play their Tony Brown-inspired attacking rugby, with a foundation laid by the forwards and quality set-piece play.
The No 5 jersey has been something of a problem in 2024 with Lood de Jager still injured and Franco Mostert missing much of the season because of a broken leg. Snyman, too, missed most of the Boks’ matches this year with an injury, but he is properly back, after playing off the bench last weekend, and is now set to start against England.
Mostert looked a little rusty last weekend, while Jean Kleyn only joined the Boks squad because of an injury to Ruan Nortje, who did well in the Rugby Championship, but then picked up an injury, ruling him out of this match.
Eben Etzebeth has been the constant at No 4 and on Saturday he’ll be joined by the equally explosive Snyman in another changed Bok lock pairing.
The Bulls man, who is regarded as the best scrummager in the United Rugby Championship, didn’t even make the initial tour squad, but got called up when Jan-Hendrik Wessels went down with an injury before the tour.
And with Frans Malherbe absent, too, because of injury, there was always a bit of an opening for this England match and it appears Louw has impressed not only scrum coach Daan Human but Erasmus, too.
He’s jumped Vincent Koch and last week’s starter in Edinburgh, Thomas du Toit, in the queue for the No 3 jersey and now has a golden chance to show what he can do, and perhaps win a permanent place in the Bok squad.
After all the criticism and talk about the Boks’ 7-1 “Bomb Squad” that featured in Edinburgh, Erasmus has surprised by picking a more traditional 5-3 bench of forwards to backs for this weekend’s game, perhaps surprising England, and everyone else.
There won’t be the mass change of the pack early in the second half, but probably more strategic changes throughout the Test, with the three backs on the bench ensuring the Boks are properly covered in all departments.
Pollard, as the team’s best goal-kicker, could end up playing a key role again, as he did during the 2023 Rugby World Cup knockout phase.
Aphelele Fassi, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Manie Libbok, Grant Williams, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (c), RG Snyman, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Bench: Malcolm Marx, Gerhard Steenekamp, Vincent Koch, Elrigh Louw, Kwagga Smith, Cobus Reinach, Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am
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