Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus on Monday opted not to include one of the six uncapped players in the squad in the match-23 for their opening game of the second leg of the Nations Championship against Italy in Turin on Saturday.
Markus Muller, Emmanuel Tshituka, Luan Giliomee, Riley Norton, Sebastian de Klerk, and Yaqeen Ahmed are the fresh faces in the travelling squad eager to make their Bok bows. However, Erasmus explained why they will have to wait at least another week to realise their dream.
Six Uncapped Players Included In Bok Squad
“They all joined us in camp today and are excited about the tour ahead, so we’ll expose them to our structures this week and monitor how they progress and hopefully we’ll be able to give them a chance to show what they can do at this level against top opposition in the next few weeks,” said the Bok coach, adding, “They are special players, who all bring something different to the team, and we have full faith in their talent and skillsets.”
Siya Kolisi will captain a settled team. The only player in the group who will make his first appearance for the double world champions this season is lock Salmaan Moerat, who missed the first leg of the Nations Championship and the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Series due to neck and toe injuries.
Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit form a formidable front row, with the hard-working Ruan Nortje joining Moerat in the engine room and Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese linking up with Kolisi in the loose trio.
Morne van den Berg and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu form an exciting halfback pairing, the experienced duo of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel take centre stage, while Ethan Hooker, Kurt-Lee Arendse, and Damian Willemse complete the starting XV.
The Boks have plenty of power on the replacements bench in the form of Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, Wilco Louw, Lood de Jager, Cameron Hanekom and Paul de Villiers, with Grant Williams and Manie Libbok providing backline cover.
SA United Rugby Championship Team of the Week – Round 5
The Boks currently top the Southern Hemisphere standings, tied on 15 points with New Zealand, but in the number one spot because of a better points’ difference. The team will travel to Paris next to face France (Friday, 13 November) and then Dublin where they will meet Ireland (Saturday, 21 November) in their final pool match before the Finals Weekend, which concludes on Sunday, 29 November.
“We have three challenging matches ahead if we want to advance to the last game of the Finals Weekend, so our next three matches are going to be vital to lay a strong foundation for the tour,” said Erasmus.
“All our energy is focused on the match against Italy for now. Fortunately, some of the Japan-based players were able to travel to Italy earlier than the rest of the squad, so they have been working with some of the coaching staff for a few days already and are fully in the swing of things, while we had our first training session on Monday afternoon, so everyone is now on the same page.
With the majority of the squad having played together for most of the season, we are confident that the players who participated in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and French Top 14 will ease into things seamlessly this week at training.
“The fact that they are battled hardened after a few tough matches, will offer us a good balance with fresh players raring to go and others who come off a few challenging matches for their franchises and clubs.”
With Italy currently ranked 11th in the world and determined to work their way up the Northern Hemisphere standings – where they currently occupy the last position on the log – Erasmus expected a spirited performance from the hosts.
“Italy are a quality team who will enter this match with immense motivation with an eye on trying to start their home leg on a positive note in front of their home crowd, and they have challenged us well before, so we have no doubt they will come out passionate and driven as ever,” said Erasmus.
“They have quality forwards and backline players, and although they are missing a few key players due to injury, they have a talented squad with players who will certainly want to make their mark with the 2027 Rugby World Cup less than a year away, so they will give everything on Saturday.
“The vital factors for us, however, will be to be accurate in our execution and to play for the full 80 minutes, especially given the high stakes at the end of these three pool matches.
“Make no mistake though, they will be raring to go, not only with the Nations Cup in mind, but also to take full advantage of these matches as all the participating teams in the competition are preparing for the Rugby World Cup next year.”
Fast facts:
- The Boks have faced Italy 18 times and won 17 of those matches. Their only defeat was in Florence in 2016, where Italy pipped the Boks by 20-18.
- This will mark the second time the teams face one another in Turin – their first outing in the city was last year, when the Boks won 32-14.
- Jesse Kriel requires only five more Test caps following this encounter to reach the significant milestone of earning 100 Test appearances.
- 2025 World Rugby and SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year, Malcolm Marx, needs to play only five more Tests to join the exclusive 100s club.
- Salmaan Moerat will play his first Test of the season in the Bok jersey after recovering from the injuries that sidelined him for the team’s previous Test matches.
- The total Test caps for the Bok starting line-up is 835.
- There are 357 caps in the backline, with 478 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 208 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline is 51, the forwards 60, while the players on the bench average 26.
South Africa: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Paul de Villiers, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Manie Libbok.
Quintin van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 20 years of experience.
