If this isn’t Rassie Erasmus’ ‘strongest’ Springboks team, what is?
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and an inset of fly-half Handre Pollard.
“This is definitely not our strongest team,” Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus decisively stated after naming his team to face Argentina in the final round of the Rugby Championship.
During his tenure with the Boks, Erasmus has always been squad first and dismisses any chat of A or B teams as he regularly rotates his matchday 23s from week to week.
However, that has changed for the last three rounds of the Rugby Championship with the experienced coach sticking with almost unchanged matchday squads after the side thrashed the All Blacks in Wellington.
This has led many to theorise that this is Erasmus‘ best team right now, or perhaps just available to him, but he has shot that assumption down and quite emphatically.
Trying to predict who the Springboks will field next week is tough enough, so there is little point in trying to guess who will be his first-choice 23 when South Africa kick off their title defence at the 2027 World Cup.
But let’s humour the idea and ask the question of, in a perfect world, with everyone fit and a hypothetical World Cup final taking place this weekend, who would make Erasmus’ matchday 23?
15 Damian Willemse
Willie le Roux’s omission from the squad for the two matches against Argentina is a clear indication that his time with the Springboks is coming to an end. The experienced full-back obviously has value to add as he passes on IP and learnings to the younger outside backs in the set-up.
However, the competition for the number 15 jersey is just too great nowadays, and Le Roux has fallen down the pecking order, something that started to occur in 2023 already.
It was Damian Willemse who forced Le Roux out of the starting role back then, and would likely get the nod in the starting role in the biggest games now too. That is not to disregard the brilliance of Aphelele Fassi over the last 18 months. Willemse simply has more experience in the crunch games and offers more positional versatility, but more on that later.
14 Cheslin Kolbe
A simple, straightforward call. Hell, Erasmus has admitted it himself before.
“If it were a World Cup knockout match, he would have played,” the head coach said earlier in the Rugby Championship when Cheslin Kolbe missed the opening Tests against Australia due to a niggle.
Sure, there are options beyond Kolbe, but if you were to select a World Rugby XV, Kolbe would be a clear frontrunner.
He may have had a mighty brainfart in the victory over Argentina in Durban, but on the whole, he is clearly one of the best wingers in the game right now.
Rassie Erasmus ‘forgives’ Cheslin Kolbe’s ‘stupidity’ after ‘brainfart’ for bizarre Argentina try
13 Jesse Kriel
The pressure is starting to build on the world-class midfield, with Canan Moodie starring in the handful of appearances he has had in the position this year, while Lukhanyo Am is back from injury, and Henco van Wyk continues to develop.
However, as of now, Jesse Kriel is probably the first-choice number 13 as a defensive leader in the side and still has a remarkable turn of pace with the ball in hand. His leadership is a key factor too, as he became a Springbok captain in July and led the side against the All Blacks.
Come Australia 2027, this might not be the case anymore, but write Kriel off at your own peril.
12 Damian de Allende
Ditto for Damian de Allende. The barnstorming, hulking inside centre continues to perform as one of the premier number 12s in the international game.
However, even the veteran midfielder, who has been a mainstay in the Springboks starting lineup for the better part of a decade, has been feeling the pinch of competition for his jersey with the performances of Willemse and Andre Esterhuizen, but as it stands, he is holding a firm grip.
Some predicted that the arrival of Tony Brown as the attack coach would spell the end of his incredibly long tenure as the go-to number 12, but that has not been the case as De Allende has flexed just how excellent his disrupting game is, which he has married well with his brutality and aggression in the tight exchanges.
11 Kurt-Lee Arendse
He has just returned from injury, but when fully fit and firing, Kurt-Lee Arendse provides a double punch on the wing with Kolbe that is just too difficult to ignore. That, despite the brilliance of Ethan Hooker, who has been seriously impressive in the handful of opportunities that he has had.
Moodie provides another taller option on the wing, and while Makazole Mapimpi continues to put in tidy shifts, he is in a similar boat to Le Roux, where it looks like he’s being fazed out of the squad.
10 Handre Pollard
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was astonishingly brilliant against Argentina in Durban, but Erasmus provided an indication that Handre Pollard is still the top fly-half dog when discussing his team to face the Pumas in London.
“I’m telling you straight up, it was very tempting to put Handre Pollard for us as coaches but then, Sacha is going to learn a lot from this match, during this week we only have two training sessions, so he needs to keep his head down understand our plan because sometimes a game like that [in Durban] puts more pressure on you in the next game,” he said.
He also added that he ‘Would love to have given Handre a chance’ for the Rugby Championship title decider.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu may well usurp Pollard for the starting role by the 2027 World Cup, like Willemse did with Le Roux, who featured off the bench in the final, but in the real crunch, the Boks have time and time again turned to the man who has won back-to-back tournaments.
Rassie Erasmus: ‘This is definitely not the strongest Springboks team’
9 Grant Williams
Another position where the Springboks are incredibly well-stocked. Faf de Klerk has barely played this year, Jaden Hendrikse remains on the fringe of the squad, while Morne van den Berg, Cobus Reinach and Grant Williams have taken centre stage.
Right now, the first choice, number nine, looks to be a neck-and-neck race between Reinach and Williams. We’d wager that Williams has the slightest of edges despite Reinach getting the nod for the starting role for the past three matches.
8 Jasper Wiese
The Springboks’ number eight depth has looked a bit flimsy this year, but frankly, it’s just been the case of a host of injuries in the same role, namely Jean-Luc du Preez, Eligh Louw, Cameron Hanekom and Juarno Augustus. Even then, Erasmus hasn’t turned to Evan Roos, who would start for many a Test team.
Louw and Hanekom will undoubtedly be in the mix when fit again and would challenge Jasper Wiese for the starting jersey. The Bulls duo are primed for long careers at the highest level in Green and Gold, but despite his hot-headed moments, Wiese is quite simply the main man at the back of the scrum.
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit
Another straightforward, easy call. The two-time World Rugby Player of the Year is the best Springboks’ best blindside flanker and remains one of the best in the business in the world too. Like De Allende, he has thrived in Tony Brown’s attacking structures, while his added lineout responsibilities in recent times has paid dividends for the team, too.
Ben-Jason Dixon will come back into the mix too, while Vincent Tshituka made the most of his opportunities, but ultimately, Du Toit is the clear favourite in the position.
6 Siya Kolisi (c)
Again, there are plenty of players pressing for more minutes in the number six jersey, but Siya Kolisi remains Erasmus’ main man. Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith and even Hanekom provide the depth that Renzo du Plessis could add to in the coming months.
Still, Kolisi is the man that the head coach trusts not only to captain the team but lead the charge at the breakdown, on defence and with ball in hand, and he hasn’t let him down yet.
5 Lood de Jager
If it weren’t for injuries and illness, Lood de Jager would be a 100 Test cap Springbok by now, along with Eben Etzebeth, and the pair may well have broken Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield’s record for the most starts in the Springboks’ second-row.
De Jager marked his return to the Green and Gold jersey earlier this year and provided lineout security, deft hands and hulking carries in the midfield with a huge work-rate around the park.
Erasmus has favoured bigger and heavier locks in his pack, and De Jager fits the bill to a tee, and even though Ruan Nortje has been sublime over the last 12 months, the former still has an edge. That’s not forgetting RG Snyman, who has been superb off the bench, which is a role that probably suits him better in the Bok squad.
4 Eben Etzebeth
Does this really need explaining? Short answer: no.
3 Frans Malherbe
He might not be the most destructive scrummaging tighthead in the game, but he certainly is one of the most technically astute. It is yet to be seen when or even if Frans Malherbe will return to the rugby pitch, having last played in March, but if he does recover from the serious lower back injury and gets anywhere near his best, he is bound to be recalled into the Boks set-up.
Thomas du Toit and Wilco Louw have performed brilliantly in his absence, while Vincent Koch remains an option along with Trevor Nyakane when he marks his comeback from injury, but Malherbe has always been a straightforward call for the Boks and rightly so.
2 Malcolm Marx
Again, not much to debate here with Malcolm Marx quite clearly being the first-choice hooker. Marnus van der Merwe and Johan Grobbelaar have impressed with the opportunities that they have received, but not enough to really twist Erasmus’ arm. While Marx has had his struggles at lineout time, he is the Boks’ best hooker around the park.
1 Ox Nche
Ox Nche has emerged as a leader in the Boks team this year and was appointed as vice-captain for a Test match as the loosehead prop continues to build on his reputation as one of the leading front-rowers in the world.
Again, not much debate here, but there is some strength in depth.
The bench
Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, Wilco Louw, Ruan Nortje, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Cobus Reinach, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Erasmus has selected a 5-3 bench split more often than not this year, but one has to wonder if it weren’t for all the injuries in the pack, if that would still be the case. We’d guess that he would opt for a 6-2 split instead.
Jan-Hendrik Wessels seems to be becoming a regular inclusion on the bench, whether it be covering hooker or loosehead prop. Bongi Mbonambi has been absent for family reasons, but his form was rather otherwise earlier this year, and Wessels looks to be moving up the pecking order at hooker.
Replacement loosehead Gerhard Steenekamp has been sorely missed by the Boks despite the emergence of Boan Venter, while Louw’s power off the bench has been telling, giving him the slightest edge over Thomas du Toit.
While Bomb Squad regular Kwagga Smith was paired with Elrigh Louw as a double loose forward impact last year in a 6-2, that occurred during a lock injury crisis. Usually, South Africa have preferred two lock options on the bench, and we think that if Erasmus had his way, he would have Ruan Nortje and RG Snyman coming on in the latter stages of the game, with Jean Kleyn and Salmaan Moerat just missing out.
Smith is getting stiff competition from Van Staden and others, but remains one of the best impact players in the game.
That leaves us with the bench where Reinach would be tasked with covering scrum-half and possibly wing with Grant Williams, while Feinberg-Mngomezulu offers cover at fly-half, inside centre and full-back.
