Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Springboks name 12 starters from World Cup final for Ireland clash

Siya Kolisi of South Africa during the South Africa men's national rugby team photograph, captains run and press conference at Twickenham on June 21, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Harding/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Rassie Erasmus has made eight changes to his South Africa team from the one that beat Wales two weeks ago for the clash against Ireland on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld.

ADVERTISEMENT

Twelve of the XV that will run out in Pretoria started in the World Cup final eight months ago, as the Boks lifted their fourth Webb Ellis Cup. Two of the absent starters at the Stade de France, fullback Damian Willemse and loosehead Steven Kitshoff, are injured, while No8 Duane Vermeulen is now part of Erasmus’ coaching staff.

The three changes in the pack from the win over Wales see hooker Bongi Mbonambi and tighthead Frans Malherbe start in place of Malcolm Marx and Vincent Koch, who have both dropped to the bench. The return of captain Siya Kolisi is the final change in the pack, who comes in in place of Evan Roos, who has dropped out of the squad completely.

Video Spacer

The Boks office team assess the Tony Brown factor on the SA game | RPTV

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 1:08
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 1:08
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
    • en (Main), selected
    Video Spacer

    The Boks office team assess the Tony Brown factor on the SA game | RPTV

    The Boks office team assess the Tony Brown factor on the SA game. Watch the full episode exclusively on RugbyPass TV now

    Watch now

    Faf de Klerk and Jesse Kriel are the only survivors from the 41-13 win over Wales at Twickenham in the back line, as four starters from the World Cup final last year – Handre Pollard, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe – all return. Fullback Willie le Roux is the final change, who started on the bench against the All Blacks in Paris.

    Erasmus has also reverted back to the 6-2 split on the bench, with Grant Williams and the newly capped Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu being the two backs on the bench. The head coach said the pair provide “additional options” with their positional versatility.

    Fixture
    Internationals
    South Africa
    27 - 20
    Full-time
    Ireland
    All Stats and Data

    “This is the team we believe will give us the impetus we need against Ireland, who are the second highest ranked team in the world,” said Erasmus.

    “We are blessed to have a lot of depth in our squad, and we are in a fortunate position to have several Rugby World Cup-winners in our ranks who know what it takes to perform at the highest level and play against the best teams in the world.

    ADVERTISEMENT

    “The fact that most of these guys have played together is a bonus for us, and most of them have faced Ireland before so they are well aware of the challenge that lies ahead, especially since we haven’t beaten them since 2016.

    “Ireland have had the upper hand over us in the last few years and they will certainly want to build on that on Saturday.

    “They have a few new players in their ranks this year, but so do we and that contributes to the excitement for the match.

    “They are a physical team that never give up, but the margins between the teams are fairly small, so it’s going to be an intense battle and one that will require a resolute performance for the full 80 minutes.”

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Springboks XV
    15 – Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls) – 93 caps, 75 pts (15t)
    14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 31 caps, 91 points (14t, 3c, 5p)
    13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 67 caps, 80 points (16t)
    12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 78 caps, 55 points (11t)
    11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 15 caps, 65 points (13t)
    10 – Handré Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 69 caps, 698 points (7t, 96c, 152p, 5dg)
    9 – Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles) – 56 caps, 50 points (5t, 5c, 5pg)
    8 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 41 caps, 35 pts (7t)
    7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) 78 caps, 40 points (8t)
    6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92) – 83 caps, 50 points (10t)
    5 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 74 caps, 15 points (3t)
    4 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 120 caps, 30 points (6t)
    3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 70 caps, 5 points (1t)
    2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 69 caps, 70 points (14t)
    1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 28 caps, 0 pts

    Replacements
    16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 65 caps, 85 points (17t)
    17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap, 0 points
    18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 50 caps, 5 points (1t)
    19 – Salmaan Moerat (DHL Stormers) – 4 caps, 0 points
    20 – RG Snyman (Leinster) – 34 caps, 10 points (2t)
    21 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 18 caps, 0 pts
    22 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 9 caps, 10 points (2t)
    23 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 1 cap, 7 points (2c, 1p)

    Related

    ADVERTISEMENT

    Boks Office | Episode 39 | The Investec Champions Cup is back

    Argentina v France | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Men's Match Highlights

    New Zealand v Australia | HSBC SVNS Hong Kong 2025 | Women's Match Highlights

    Tokyo Sungoliath vs Shizuoka BlueRevs | Japan Rugby League One 2024/25 | Full Match Replay

    Reds vs Force | Super Rugby W 2025 | Full Match Replay

    The Rise of Kenya | The Report

    New Zealand in Hong Kong | Brady Rush | Sevens Wonders | Episode 4

    The Fixture: How This Rugby Rivalry Has Lasted 59 Years

    Trending on RugbyPass

    Comments

    30 Comments
    J
    John 273 days ago

    12 starters? must be confident to play 3 men down to start…

    On a serious note, 1st choice to secure a win and then try new combos in game 2. This is the 1st year in the next 4 yr cycle to the RWC so be brave

    p
    patrick 274 days ago

    What’re the odd on RG Snyman heading back to Ireland injured so missing the start of the season again ?

    J
    Jan 274 days ago

    That’s a fairly predictable team. Glad to see Steenekamp and Sacha on the bench.

    F
    Flankly 274 days ago

    To state the obvious, it’s about as settled a team as they could have picked. Apart from the forced absence of a few players (Willemse, Kitshoff, Wiese) it has to be close to Rassie’s first choice 23. The plan must be to maximize the chances of a good start to the series and the season, before giving some of the new faces a shot.

    Sacha and Williams in the last quarter could be fun to watch, especially as tired legs can be a Loftus thing. And it will be interesting is to see how aggressive they are in deploying the new Tony Brown attacking structures.

    Ireland are a great team, but they will need a special performance to beat this Bok lineup.

    Load More Comments

    Join free and tell us what you really think!

    Sign up for free
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Latest Features

    Comments on RugbyPass

    J
    JW 1 hour ago
    Razor has an about turn on All Blacks eligibility rules

    Yep, another problem!


    I think he would have, in the instance I mentioned, which wasn’t changing anything other than correctly applying todays eligibility quidelines. Which is an arbitrary construct, as the deal likely would have played out completely differently, but I just ‘allowed’ him to have 1 year sabbatically for his ‘loyalty’, rather than having some arbitrary number like 70 caps required.


    So if Richie had a 3 year deal, and the first year he was allowed to use him still, I don’t think he’d really not transition to Dmac being his main 10, as he’s obviously the only one he can use for the following two years, therefore likely his only real option for the WC (very hard for Richie to overtake him in such a short time). Richie would purely be a security net in a situation like I proposition where there are only small changes to the eligibility.


    The system is not working well enough though, as we don’t have the Rugby Championship or World Cup trophies, do we? Well on that last question, that’s all I’m really saying but I would not believe a word this author says, so it’s entirely a ‘what if’ discussion, but if the author is right and now they are actually going to be more flexible, I think that’s great yeah. Ultimately thought I think those two players were an anomaly signing their contracts and futures up so far ahead, especially of when they were performing. Both jumped at the opportunity of good contracts when their All Black prospects weren’t looking that bright.

    51 Go to comments
    LONG READ
    LONG READ How the Gallagher Premiership has become rugby's go-to league for thrill seekers How the Gallagher Premiership has become rugby's go-to league for thrill seekers
    Search