Springboks team: Winners and losers as Rassie Erasmus leaves ‘no stone unturned’ but misses out on centre test
Springboks Aphelele Fassi and Herschel Jantjies with head coach Rassie Erasmus.
Following the announcement of Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks team to face Wales at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, here are our winners and losers.
The Boks head coach has made wholesale changes yet again, making 10 in total from the team that defeated Scotland at Loftus Versfeld in round two of the Nations Championship.
Erasmus’ continued rotation does make it more difficult to pick out those winners and losers, but there is certainly still plenty to unpack from the team selections.
So without further ado, let’s dive in.
Winners
The four debutants
Four players will officially become Springboks on Saturday on the coast, with Jaco Williams, Vusi Moyo, Ruben van Heerden, and Carlu Sadie earning their Test debuts against Wales.
Moyo does so despite still being eligible for the Junior Springboks, who will be in action in the final against France in Georgia at the same time as the Nations Championship clash against the Welsh. As for winger Williams, he is just one year out of the U20s system.
Meanwhile, Van Heerden’s Stormers form has finally been recognised by the Springboks coaches. He has been one of the best and most consistent locks in South Africa over the past few seasons but has been repeatedly overlooked by the coaching team because of the depth in the position already. Now, amid the injury crisis in the engine room, Van Heerden gets his opportunity to stake his claim and convince the Bok coaching team that he deserves more chances down the line.
He will want to take note of Ruan Nortje’s rise in the Springboks pecking order, as the Bulls man was also overlooked despite impressing for the Pretoria club; during the 2024 lock crisis, he rose to the occasion and is now a nailed-on selection in the wider squad. The message will be clear to the Stormers second-rower: This is your opportunity, don’t let it slip.
The same is somewhat true for Sadie, who has been sublime for Union Bordeaux Begles since making the move to France from the Sharks. The 29-year-old was a victim of South Africa’s tighthead prop stocks before his move abroad and has continued to be so since. However, with Erasmus casting a wider net ahead of 2027 and beyond, the 130kg+ prop from Belville has an opportunity to impress.
Herschel Jantjies
Out of sight but not out of mind for the Springboks coaches as Herschel Jantjies earns his 25th Test cap for South Africa this weekend and first since 2023.
Three years is a long time in international rugby but also doesn’t quite illustrate the fall from grace that the now 30-year-old endured. He burst onto the scene in 2019 and was the epitome of a bolter that season with the Stormers, earning a Test debut against Australia – a match he scored a brace in – before going on to become Faf de Klerk’s back-up at the World Cup.
Jantjies was a consistent selection for the Boks throughout that World Cup campaign and continued to be a key member off the bench when South Africa returned to the international game, playing 11 times in 2021, including all three Tests against the British and Irish Lions.
He came off the bench in the 26-27 defeat to England in November 2021, earning his 21st Test cap that day and would be capped just three more times since then, twice in 2022 and just once in 2023 – coming off the bench in the World Cup warm-up against Argentina.
Jantjies’ form ultimately led to his omissions from the squad, and at the end of the 2024/25 season, he opted to move abroad, signing with Top 14 club Bayonne in a bid to rekindle his career. His form in France has clearly caught the eye of the coaches, who are leaving no stone unturned as they continue to build towards Australia 2027 – the livewire scrum-half proves just that with his selection also sending a message to others that while you might not be in the mix now, it doesn’t mean you are out completely.
Aphelele Fassi
The Weekend Special gets another night to find his feet and rhythm after an underwhelming return from injury in the victory over Scotland. Aphelele Fassi wasn’t poor against the Scots but wasn’t at the level expected of him and his talents.
When commenting on Handre Pollard’s form with the Bulls, Erasmus urged the critics to consider the context of the fly-half’s situation and how it could be contributing to his performances, and the same should be done for Fassi, who is lacking game time.
Saturday’s clash against Scotland was just his seventh game of the year. He sustained an injury in January against the Stormers, returned in late February against the Lions, where he suffered another setback. He marked his return against the Baa-Baas, sat out the win over England and featured versus Scotland.
Fassi has proved that he is capable of making the step up to international rugby, having done so brilliantly in 2024 and before injury struck last year, and perhaps just needs time on the park to rediscover his best form.
Damian de Allende and Pieter-Steph du Toit
In the history of the Springboks, just nine players have managed to play 100 times in Green and Gold: Eben Etzebeth, Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana, Tendai Mtawarira, John Smit, Jean de Villiers, Siya Kolisi, Percy Montgomery, and Willie le Roux.
Those legends of the game in South Africa will be joined by two more this year in double Rugby World Cup winners Damian de Allende and Pieter-Steph du Toit. The former goes within one this weekend, earning his 99th cap for the Boks, whilst PSDT leads South Africa in his 98th appearance.
Neither will have those upcoming milestones in their minds this weekend when they front up against the Welsh, but it is rather fitting that the duo look set to notch up their tons against the Springboks’ greatest rivals, the All Blacks.
While the pair are held in incredibly high regard nowadays, both have endured turbulent spells in Green and Gold, and it’s a credit to their resilience that they now stand on the precipice of even more greatness.
Ben-Jason Dixon
Ben-Jason Dixon has certainly impressed in his appearances this month, but he can count himself lucky to be featuring for the Springboks this weekend after escaping further sanction for his ‘headbutt’ in the clash with Scotland.
Gregor Townsend wasn’t happy with the decision after the match, saying: “It looked like a head-on-head collision. I heard that it was viewed as a glancing blow, so I was obviously disappointed that a head-butt, which is what it looked like from our case, was viewed that way.”
While Dixon was only yellow-carded for his actions at Loftus, a similar incident occurred in New Zealand with Italian lock Niccolo Cannone having his headbutt on Cam Roigard upgraded from a yellow card to a red. On top of that, the Azzurri star has been handed a four-game ban and will miss Italy’s clash against Australia and the start of the season with Benetton.
Dixon is fortunate that he has escaped a similar fate.
Durban
When the fixtures were announced for South Africa’s home leg of the Nations Championship, the Durban-faithful would not have been blamed for assuming that an under-strengthened Springboks team would be turning out against the Welsh in what is the venue’s only Test match this year. Wales are the lowest-ranked nation of the three travelling teams this month and the last time the two sides collided, the Boks emerged 73-0 victors.
It would have been completely understandable had Erasmus saved all of the new faces for this week but instead, the head coach has named an incredibly strong team for the fixture.
Furthermore, the Durbanites will also get to see the debuts of four players who have all represented the Sharks. Moyo, who has played just once in the URC for the Sharks, makes his debut in KZN and is joined by clubmate Williams, who enjoyed a breakout campaign under JP Pietersen.
Sadie and Van Heerden also donned the black and white jersey previously and were two players held in high regard amongst fans of the coastal club.
Sure, the local supporters would have loved to see the likes of Kolisi and Etzebeth in the mix, but there are several Durban favourites littered across the team, including Cobus Reinach and Jesse Kriel.
Paul de Villiers
The rise of Paul de Villiers continues as the Stormers star and former Junior Bok earns his fourth straight appearance for the Springboks. The 23-year-old’s performances for the Cape-based franchise this season demanded international recognition and the Bok coaching team duly responded.
He pulled on the Green and Gold for the first time, featuring off the bench in the uncapped match against the Baa-Baas and has barely missed a beat since earning a full-Test debut against England and retaining his place in the starting team against Scotland and now Wales.
Injuries to Kwagga Smith and Kolisi have certainly helped his cause but De Villiers has still needed to produce the performances to earn his continued selection and frankly, he has done precisely that. There is no shortage of options at Erasmus’ disposal, but it’s clear the ex-Junior Boks skipper has left a mark on the coaching team.
Sir Steve Hansen’s verdict on Rassie Erasmus’ depth building: ‘It’s that mindset of we don’t care’
Losers
Cheswill Jooste
“Cheswill is also a guy that we would have loved to have here,” Erasmus said of Jooste after naming his team to face Wales.
The head coach explained that the Boks had already messed with Kevin Foote’s preparations for the World Rugby Junior World Championship after selecting Riley Norton, who sustained an injury with the Boks, while also taking Moyo out of contention by naming him in the senior squad.
“I think Cheswill is going to go very far, definitely one day,” the Boks boss added.
Considering those comments, Jooste was in line for a possible Test debut this July but ultimately missed out in order to help the Junior Boks’ bid to win back-to-back trophies – something South Africa has yet to do at u20s level.
Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie
A setback for Erasmus’ planning too as Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie miss out on selection this week. The former marked his return from injury on the wing after the latter’s withdrawal from the matchday 23 and was forced off the pitch early in the second half after his mouth guard flagged a hit which forced him to conduct an HIA.
Erasmus was left baffled by Hooker’s forced withdrawal but is seemingly taking a precautionary approach to his fitness despite stating that he could play a full 80 minutes this week and against Argentina.
While the Boks have rotated heavily this month, the number 13 jersey has belonged to Kriel, who has started all four matches, and one can assume that the coaches would have liked to see Moodie or Hooker in the role, or both. Perhaps we could see the pair starting against Los Pumas in Argentina, as they did against Italy last November.
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Riley Norton
A first Test cap beckoned for the Junior Bok after his impressive shift against the Baa-Baas earlier this month, with an injury robbing him of that opportunity for the time being. To make matters worse, he will have to get two screens out to watch the Springboks face Wales, and the Junior Boks tackle France in the final; two matches he could have easily been involved in.
Experienced locks
They may well feature against Los Pumas in Argentina, but it’s a real shame that Franco Mostert, Lood de Jager and Etzebeth have missed all three home Test matches so far this year.
De Jager and Etzebeth are desperate for time on the pitch after their injuries through the season, and time is running out for them to do so before the All Blacks touchdown in South Africa.
Embrose Papier
It’s quite clearly been a matter of rotation in July rather than axings and omissions, but Embrose Papier will surely have fancied his chances of getting two opportunities this month rather than just the one.
Papier scored a scorching try against Scotland at Loftus and had an overall strong performance before he was replaced early in the second half. But like Jantjies, he has been out of the mix for so long and would have loved a second chance to stamp his mark.
To make matters more troublesome for him is the fact that Morne van den Berg is being lined up for a return against Los Pumas while Reinach and Grant Williams have recently recovered from injuries and perhaps need match time too.
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