Springboks team: Winners and losers as ‘Bomb Squad founder’ hits ‘impossible’ milestone while Rassie backs Sacha’s world domination bid
Springboks lock RG Snyman and an inset of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Following the announcement of Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks team to face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, here are our winners and losers.
The matchday squad features just two personnel changes from the team that defeated France at the Stade de France a fortnight ago, with Ruan Nortje elevated to the somewhat cursed number five jersey, while Canan Moodie replaces the injured Kurt-Lee Arendse, with Kwagga Smith added to the bench.
However, there is still plenty to unpack from the team that will be tasked with claiming a first win over Ireland in Dublin since 2012.
So without further ado, here are our winners and losers.
Winners
RG Snyman
It’s been a long road to 50 Test caps for the Viking. RG Snyman debuted for the Springboks against England back in 2018 and has been a staple in the team since then, winning back-to-back Rugby World Cups.
One would assume that he’d have reached this milestone already; however, the Boks played no Tests in 2020, and upon joining Munster, Snyman endured a torrid run of injuries, which meant that his 23rd and 24th Test caps were just over three years apart.
Even during that spell when he was sidelined, he was repeatedly included in training and alignment camps – emphasising just how highly he is thought of by the coaching team.
A founding member of the original Bomb Squad, Snyman will rather fittingly hit the milestone he’d thought would be impossible, coming off the bench, having earned 36 of his 49 previous caps in the same manner.
“This milestone is special because I’ve missed a lot of years at the Springboks, so achieving a milestone like that is something I didn’t think would be possible,” he said earlier this week.
“It’s an honour, but it’s not about the individual, it’s about us as a team and how we perform.”
Andre Esterhuizen
Erasmus has repeatedly stated that had Andre Esterhuizen not bought into the idea of becoming a hybrid player, he would continue to struggle to make matchday 23s for the big matches.
Last year, he played just three times in Green and Gold, all of which were in the starting inside centre role. As a hybrid in 2025, he has played eight times, twice in the starting number 12 jersey with the rest coming off the bench.
His ninth appearance will triple his tally from 2024 and that of 2022, as Esterhuizen is quickly becoming a nigh-on undroppable player for Erasmus.
It’s worth noting the quality of opposition he has been featured against over the last two international seasons. Last year, his caps came against Wales, Portugal and Scotland; the latter of which being a match when Erasmus heavily rotated. This year, he has played against Italy (twice), Australia (twice), the All Blacks, Argentina, Japan, France and now Ireland.
After previously batting away at Jake White’s suggestion that he should pursue a career as a back-rower in his youth at the Sharks, Esterhuizen is embracing the hybrid role and is being rewarded for more caps in doing so.
For a player of his quality who has been in and around the squad since 2018, Esterhuizen probably deserves to have more than 27 Test caps under his belt by now, but has found a way of becoming a crucial cog in the selection process in what has been a hugely profitable year for him personally.
Kwagga Smith
A hat-trick of winners on the bench. Kwagga Smith played the house down in Turin after being cruelly overlooked for the clash against France.
He was once an unmovable force in that bench role, but the rise of Esterhuizen in the position means that he has serious competition for his place amongst the reserves.
However, Smith quickly went about laying down a marker against the Azzurri and melted bodies left, right and centre in a momentum-swining cameo as the Springboks put Italy to the sword in the latter stages of the game.
The ‘Bomb Squad’ craze has spread to other international teams recently, but Smith has been a standard bearer for several seasons now and will be out to prove it once again on Saturday.
Canan Moodie
While Erasmus has delayed his team announcement until Thursday, it was a largely predicted matchday 23, with the exception of who would replace Kurt-Lee Arendse on the wing.
Despite the unavailability of Makazole Mapimpi, Erasmus was not short on options with two real standouts: Canan Moodie and Ethan Hooker. In the end, the former has got the nod and the latter can feel quite hard done by, more on that later.
23-year-old Moodie has been hailed as a generational talent for the Springboks and continues to produce standout performances, rarely having a poor game in Green and Gold, whether that is in the centres or on the wing.
Cobus Reinach and Cheslin Kolbe
While Snyman notches up a half-century against Ireland, Cobus Reinach and Cheslin Kolbe edge ever so closer to doing the same, with the pair earning their 49th Test caps.
Like Esterhuizen, Reinach has been in the squad for years and actually made his Test debut under former head coach Heyneke Meyer. However, competition for his position means that he hasn’t been the clear frontrunner for the number nine jersey.
This year has been different for the veteran, with even Erasmus stating that he has been in the ‘form of his career’.
Meanwhile, Kolbe continues to be one of the best of the best when it comes to winger play and is often omitted from matchday squads purely to save his brilliance for the biggest of battles.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu announced himself to the international scene in 2024 but has gone about dominating it in 2025, usurping Handre Pollard, a double World Cup-winning fly-half, and fellow 2023 winner Manie Libbok to become the go-to number 10 in the big matches this year.
In fact, the All Blacks at Eden Park is the only massive Test this year that the 23-year-old hasn’t been handed the keys to the attack for, as he was included on the bench.
After starting in wins over Georgia, New Zealand, Argentina (twice), Japan, and France, the youngster turns his attentions to Ireland in Dublin.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has won each of the nine Tests that he has started in the Green and Gold number 10 jumper and will be hellbent on hitting double digits this weekend.
Ruan Nortje
The man tasked with ending the curse of the number five jersey, a job he was challenged with last year, too. The Springboks’ five lock was sent off in both of the last two Test matches, and Ruan Nortje must buck that trend as South Africa plot a first win in Dublin in over a decade.
Nortje has gone from strength to strength since being recalled into the Bok squad ahead of last year’s Rugby Championship, after being overlooked for the July Tests against Ireland, but now gets his shot against the men from the Emerald Isle.
He was fantastic off the bench in the last two matches, in particular, righting the ship after the sending offs and calling the lineout like a season-international pro.
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Losers
Franco Mostert and Lood de Jager
Nortje gets the nod after Lood de Jager failed in his attempt to appeal his ban and while Franco Mostert managed to get his red card rescinded.
SA Rugby, rather pointly, confirmed that they “were not considered for selection due to their disciplinary appeals and hearings this week to avoid the outcomes of those decisions impacting on the team’s preparations for the match.”
A bit of a dig in that? Absolutely. Erasmus and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick have made no bones about their thoughts on the officiating of those tackles and the subsequent bans.
Marco van Staden
Marco van Staden really could not have done more to drive home his claim for a position in the matchday 23 than he did in Turin. The livewire Bulls back-rower was a pest at the breakdown, superb with ball in hand and scored the try that put the Springboks on track to win the game.
Unfortunately, Esterhuizen’s ability to cover centre and flank has counted against Van Staden, who was ultimately in a one-on-one battle with Smith for a place on the bench.
Jean Kleyn
There must have certainly been a conversation over whether Jean Kleyn and RG Snyman should be given the starting lock jerseys against Ireland this weekend. The pair linked up brilliantly for Munster in those roles and worked wonders as a combination in 2023 off the bench at the World Cup.
It would have allowed Snyman to start his 50th Test and given Kleyn the chance to run out against the team he earned his international debut.
Instead, Erasmus has gone with Snyman as the only cover on the bench with Nortje partnering Eben Etzebeth. A completely understable call with Nortje proving that he is more than capable of keeping the pace from minute one to 80 with extreme ease.
Ethan Hooker
If Moodie is a winner, Hooker has to be a loser, as it was seemingly a straight shootout for who was going to fill Arendse’s void.
The World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year ultimately missed out but is bound to be back in the mix next weekend against Wales. Hooker patiently waited for his first start, which came against the All Blacks in Wellington and hasn’t looked back since.
Handre Pollard
2025 might be the year that we look back upon as when the changing of the Springboks fly-half guard occurred, but write off Handre Pollard at your peril.
The double World Cup-winner is still only 31 years old and provides massive value in the squad even when he isn’t making matchday 23s.
Perhaps Erasmus has used many of the crunch games this year to really expose Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Libbok to those kinds of pressure situations, with the knowledge that those are the times when Pollard really comes into his own.
Pollard was far from perfect last week, but by no means poor. He is a known entity and a fierce competitor who would have been quietly disappointed not to have made the team this week.
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