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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.

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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.

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      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.

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      “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.”

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      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)

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      Comments

      30 Comments
      J
      John 277 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 278 days ago

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

      J
      Jan 278 days ago

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

      F
      Flankly 278 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.

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      JW 1 hour ago
      'I feel for the players': Jamie Joseph's reflection on falling short again

      Some great leadership quality from Big Jim, he facilitated for large parts then put the responsibility on himself at the end drive the team forward in the last desperate minutes. He also filled in for Withy extremely well, adding real strength to the maul.


      The Force have been playing very well this year indeed, and their stars did make a couple of key players, the main factor though is definitely what I reported in the previous article “

      Gotta say I’m really enjoying the Highlanders desperation in the last 10 minutes of games, maybe it’s just because theyre having to throw the kitchen sink at it again. Another massive effort to hold the opposition out just like in the Blues game. I’m sure the coach’s will be wanting a little more composure though as the play seems to far more hap hazard (really just the type of footy I like watching) than the picture they bring at the beggining of games.

      Again though they don’t have the refs to thank for anything, being down a man twenty more minutes than they should have been. Most importantly they were without one of they best attackers (not counting Tangitau’s early change) for the final push, with Nareki’s bin.

      Again, I can see where this team is trying to go, I hope they can get their this year as they certainly have the game to be a top four team if they click. They are munch of misfits when you look at it objectively though, they probably have the worst cohesion score of any SRP team. A few more wins, maybe a come from behind upset may be the best theey can hope to acheive this year.

      “. Like Jim I thought the defence stood up strongly for large parts, but they may just have some structural issues, where it’s just not paying off. They had Lawaqa on the wing all day, allowed the Force to make a dozen linebreaks, why? Both there attack and defence look a bit too fancy for me, why? Common Joseph, the youngest team with the least cohesion/most new guys, it look overly complicated.


      I hope it clicks. Manson in particular looked to be trying far too hard when he came on, what’s been said in his ear? Stick to you lane son and don’t make any mistakes, don’t lose the game for your team. Should be a comfortable win next week against Drua if they keep there heads up and come back stronger. Lasaqa might be best to come off the bench, would keep Jim at 12 but I’d like Tele’a to come back to the side, though TUJ hasn’t been bad and style might suit Drua more. Hopefully Renton or someone with some size is at 8 or 6, Lasaqa appears to be more an 8 actually, similar to Sititi and I wouldn’t mind if he was groomed behind him and Sotutu. Lennox I thought could make a good halfback but isn’t ready, I’d hope Arscott, Fakatava, or Pledger could return to the side. Other than Drua theyve got Cheifs twice, though the home game is the last of the round/season so potentially a gimme if the Chiefs repeat previous years tactics. The Crusaders and Moana at home are also very doable. Those four wins could see them crash into the top 6 still.

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