Springboks team: Rassie Erasmus rotates for Wallabies showdown with new captain named in Siya Kolisi’s absence
Rassie Erasmus has named Andre Esterhuizen as the new Springboks captain in a largely changed team to face Australia.
Andre Esterhuizen will captain a largely changed Springboks team against Australia this weekend in Perth.
The 32-year-old will become the 68th player to captain South Africa on Sunday, with the hybrid star named at inside centre, where he will partner Canan Moodie.
Esterhuizen, who has been named as the Sharks captain for the upcoming season, leads an overhauled team from the side that defeated the All Blacks in the final Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test match in Baltimore with head coach Rassie Erasmus making 13 changes to his starting XV.
Rassie Erasmus’ sweeping changes
Springboks lock Eben Etzebeth and winger Ethan Hooker are the only starters who remain in the run-on team from the win over New Zealand with Erasmus making seven changes in the forward back and six in the backline.
As mentioned above, Moodie will partner Esterhuizen in the midfield while Hooker is named in a back three with full-back Aphelele Fassi and fellow winger Edwill van der Merwe. Handre Pollard returns to the starting number 10 jersey after he missed the Cape Town Test against the All Blacks through injury and partners scrum-half Herschel Jantjies, who earns his first Test start since November 2021.
Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Zachary Porthen are start in the front row with Johan Grobbelaar named as the starting hooker while Etzebeth will link up with the fit-again Franco Mostert in the locks. Paul de Villiers, Elrigh Louw and Marco van Staden start the back-row with the latter named in the number eight jumper.
In total nine of the players in Erasmus’ match-23 participated in the final Test against the All Blacks in the USA with the starting trio of Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche, and Wilco Louw now serving as the back-up front rowers.
Lood de Jager will again provide lock cover while loose forward Wiese earns his 50th Test cap from the bench. Erasmus has opted for the more traditional 5-3 split on the bench with Morne van den Berg, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, and Quan Horn included.
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“He captained the Hollywoodbets Sharks, and he has brought so much to our squad off and on the field, both at centre and in the loose trio, and he thoroughly deserves this opportunity,” Erasmus said on new Springbok captain Esterhuizen.
“It will also help build our leadership core even more within the team with several players having captained the side over the last few seasons, and we trust that he is the right man to take over the captaincy in this match.”
Looking forward to the Test against Australia, Erasmus added: “We’ve been working closely with our Head of Athletic Performance Andy Edwards on how best to manage the players to get the most out of them in this important encounter, so we had a few days off for the players’ bodies to recover from the last few Tests and also from the travel, so we had two days of training in Terrigal and resumed our usual Test week programme on Tuesday.
“This is going to be a big challenge against a team that has been playing good rugby, and who have won four of their last five matches, with their other result being a draw against the Pumas in Argentina.
“They also suffered a narrow defeat against Ireland in the Nations Championship and registered a comprehensive victory over Italy, and they will be playing in front of their home crowd, so we know a big game lies ahead.
“They are a proud nation and will certainly want to continue building momentum going into their next two clashes against the All Blacks and the second leg of the Nations Championship in November, so they are going to throw everything at us. Adding to that, they have physical forwards and a very exciting backline, so it will take another big performance from us to get the result.”
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Springboks team to face Australia
Springboks:15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen (captain), 11 Ethan Hooker, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Ox Nche, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Quan Horn
Date: Sunday, 27 September 2026
Venue: Optus Stadium, Perth
Kick-off: 17:30 (local AWST), 10:30 (UK), 11:30 (France), 11:30 (South Africa), 19:30 (AEST), 22:30 (New Zealand), 06:30 (Argentina), 18:30 (JST), 05:30 (EDT)
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR) and James Doleman (NZR)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (FIR)
FPRO: Richard Kelly (NZR)
Broadcasters: Nine Network / Stan Sport (Australia), SuperSport (South Africa / Africa), Sky Sport (New Zealand), Sky Sports (United Kingdom & Ireland), Canal+ (France / Andorra / Monaco / Luxembourg), FloSports (USA), TSN (Canada), ESPN (Argentina / South America), Wowow (Japan), Sky Italia (Italy), Premier Sports (much of Asia), Digicel / Sky Pacific (Pacific Islands)
