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Lood de Jager to return as 153kg prop one of four set for first Bok appearances
By Josh Raisey
Lood de Jager is set to make his first appearance for South Africa since the 2023 Rugby Championship after being named in the Springboks starting XV to take on the Barbarians on Saturday in Cape Town.
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An injury-plagued few years robbed the 2019 World Cup winner from helping the Boks defend their crown in 2023, but will make his comeback in an XV that contains two uncapped players.
Lions tighthead Asenathi Ntlabakanye and Sharks flanker Vincent Tshituka are the two uncapped players in the starting XV, while Stormers tighthead Neethling Fouche and Scarlets hooker Marnus van der Merwe could make their first appearances from the bench.
Head coach Rassie Erasmus said: “We’ve said over the last few weeks that this match will provide the ideal opportunity to get the Japanese-based players and a few other players back into full match-mode for the Castle Lager Incoming Series, while we also have the opportunity to see first-hand how a few of the newer players in the squad perform at this level, so we are excited to see what this group can do.
“With a handful of players having participated in the Vodacom URC Grand Final and Handre in the Gallagher Premiership Final, they lost out on over a week of training, so it was our plan from the outset to select players who we have been working with for the last few weeks and who are already functioning well within our structures.
“That said, we are planning to rotate our squad throughout the season to manage the players, and we are pleased with the depth we have within this group.”
On his uncapped quartet, Erasmus said: “They have all slotted into our systems really well and have a good understanding of what we want to do in this match, while it also presents us with a fantastic opportunity to see how they measure up against a handful of experienced players in the Barbarians team.
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“This may not be an official Test match, but we are approaching it as such, and a good result will hopefully set us on course for an exciting season.
“Asenathi, Vincent, Neethling, and Marnus have all been impressive at training and for their respective franchises this season, and we hope to see them replicate those quality performances in this match.”
Springboks XV
15 Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 11 caps, 35 points (7t)
14 Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath) – 40 caps, 111 points (18t, 3c, 5p)
13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 79 caps, 90 points (18t)
12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 87 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 24 caps, 90 points (18t)
10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 8 caps, 52 points (14c, 8p)
9 Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions) – 2 caps, 0 points
8 Jean-Luc du Preez (Sale Sharks) – 14 caps 10 points (2t)
7 Vincent Tshituka (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – uncapped
6 Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 92 caps, 60 points (12t)
5 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 66 caps, 25 points (5t)
4 Jean Kleyn (Munster) – 7 caps, 0 points
3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye (Emirates Lions) – uncapped
2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 76 caps, 105 points (21t)
1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 39 caps, 0 points
Replacements
16 Marnus van der Merwe (Scarlets) – uncapped
17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 5 points (1t)
18 Neethling Fouche (DHL Stormers) – uncapped
19 Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 78 caps, 20 points (4t)
20 Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 51 caps, 45 points (9t)
21 Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 39 caps, 70 pts (14t)
22 Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 19 caps, 98 pts (1t, 30c, 11p)
23 Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 19 caps, 0 points
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Who’s the ref and who are the assistants and TMO?
12 out of 23 players rom NZ, why not make it a truly barbarian squad by picking more players from different nations? lame.
You usually expect the BaaBaas to be an Allstar Team, with a longer list of “household name” players than their international opposition. Is that what we have on Saturday?
This Bok lineup has 10 of the 23 in the Rugbypass Top 100, as follows:
Cheslin Kolbe 2
Ox Nche 10
Kurt-Lee Arendse 19
Damian de Allende 22
Malcolm Marx 36
Siya Kolisi 39
Kwagga Smith 40
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 47
Jesse Kriel 63
Manie Libbok 87
And the BaaBaas have .. 2 players of their 23 in the top 100:
Mark Telea 37
Sam Cane 81
I get it that there are some great players on the list, including veterans, up-and-comers, and some that have been unlucky in their national selection processes. It is a strong team, and being over 50% from NZ (12 out of the 23) with a highly accomplished NZ coach, there is a good chance that they will have a successful NZ-based team DNA.
Having said that you can’t help wondering what this team could have looked like in the absence of the calendar conflict with international tours.
It costs a heap of cash money for insurance and so on,Baabaas teams up North are bigger money generators and require less costs like in getting players there,they will all want to play but comes with a cost , still good team hope weathers good and your boy Rassie when he says test match he doesn’t actually mean that, he doesn’t mean grind them out boys just keep smashing them your Boks always can do in those big games that matter, but I’m sure accurate and will be physical enough that you don’t go the way the Lions did the other day but it would not be nice to make Cian Healy’s last game not the send off he wanted but the stretcher off he should have feared before signing on the dotted line 😂😂
Games arnt played on paper
Is de Jager changing positions or does this title need punctuation?
“Lood de Jager to return as 153kg prop”
Lood de Jager with all due respect was 153kg on his body type it would be all big fat gut or “puku” with massive love handles I suspect, would do nothing for Nike rugby sales
Has he…..transitioned?apologies has them transitioned
Exactly how I read it and was WTF?
lol.Imagine. He hasn’t skipped leg day in the gym while recovering from his upper body injury and is now re-inventing himself as a hybrid Prop and Lock.
Joh! That is a heavy pack!
A 960kg pack will be tough to move around. And some fine players that are mobile and big. Lood, Tshituka, Marx, Ox, JL du Preez and wven Kleyn.
Pity it’s gonna be wet.