Injuries take toll on Boks with 4 changes to XV as Erasmus makes peculiar Kolisi move

Rassie Erasmus has named his South Africa side to take on the All Blacks in the second Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, with potentially four changes to the starting XV.

In what is a seldom-seen move, Erasmus has named captain Siya Kolisi to start, but has “bracketed Siya alongside Paul [de Villiers],” to give the coaching team more time to monitor the 35-year-old through training this week as he returns from a hamstring injury. This goes against Erasmus’ long-held mantra that you can only play at the weekend if you can train on Monday.

In the past, Erasmus has named a player to start and then made a late change before kick-off should they fail to prove their fitness. This was shown against England in July, where both Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth were withdrawn hours before kick-off.

Given the uncertainty, Pieter-Steph du Toit will retain the captaincy in what will be his 100th appearance for the Springboks.

While this is a potential change to the XV from the 33-16 loss to the All Blacks in the first Test at Ellis Park, there are three definite changes for the rematch in Cape Town.

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29 Aug 26

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The duo of Cheslin Kolbe and Grant Williams are out injured, with Ethan Hooker starting on the left wing and Cobus Reinach starting at scrum-half. The final change will see Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu dropped to the bench in favour of Handre Pollard, who will come in to start at fly-half.

After the game slipped away from the Springboks in the final quarter in Johannesburg, the bench has a vastly different look to it this week, with only Gerhard Steenekamp and Andre Esterhuizen retaining their places. Deon Fourie, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Cameron Hanekom and Morne van den Berg have all come into the squad after missing the first Test.

“Cheslin and Grant (Williams) suffered niggles last weekend, which ruled them out of contention for selection, while we have bracketed Siya alongside Paul to allow us time to monitor how Siya comes through training this week,” said Erasmus.

“The changes we made are in line with what we want to achieve on the field this week, and it is valuable that almost all of the players have been involved in the last two games, so they will be able to cope with the intensity and physicality of this match.”

Looking ahead to the second Test, Erasmus added: “There were a handful of positives and negatives last week, but the main thing that let us down was that we created so many chances, but mistakes at crucial times cost us.

“We’ll put in a lot of work this week to ensure that we are sharp in that regard this weekend because if we had used even some of those chances, the result could have been completely different.

“That said, we know New Zealand will be charged up after winning last week, and they will want to build on that. But the key for us will be to focus on our game and ensure that we are as effective as possible all around.”

South Africa XV: 15 Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers); 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Mitsubishi Dynaboars), 13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), 12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), 11 Ethan Hooker (Hollywoodbets Sharks); 10 Handre Pollard (Vodacom Bulls), 9 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers); 1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), 3 Wilco Louw (DHL Stormers), 4 Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 5 Ruan Nortje (Kubota Spears), 6 Siya Kolisi (DHL Stormers) / Paul de Villiers (DHL Stormers), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (captain, Toyota Verblitz), 8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks)

Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers), 17 Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls), 18 Thomas du Toit (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 19 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights), 20 Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks), 21 Cameron Hanekom (Vodacom Bulls), 22 Morne van den Berg (10bet Lions), 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers)