Springboks team: Winners and losers as ‘one to watch’ emerges while Rassie Erasmus’ ‘gamble’ reveals Rugby World Cup plan

Following the announcement of the Springboks team to face Italy on Saturday, here are our winners and losers from Rassie Erasmus’ selections.

Winners

Ben-Jason Dixon

Will play his first match since the 2024 Rugby Championship in what is a huge opportunity for the flanker to stake a claim for more game time further down the line. Dixon is a workhorse in the back-row and at 6ft 5in is a useful presence in the lineout.

He is therefore in the mould of Pieter-Steph du Toit and Erasmus will hope Dixon can fulfil his promise and potentially take over from the great Springboks back-rower, and that journey, to some extent, starts with Italy this weekend.

Zachary Porthen

Made his Springboks debut against Japan in the first November Test and has been backed yet again to start, this time against the Azzurri. Porthen made a good first impression but this will be a tougher task against a more powerful Italian front-row.

Should the youngster pass this challenge then the Boks boss may consider putting him in for the bigger games, with Ireland coming up at the Aviva Stadium in just over a week’s time. He is very much one to watch over the next year.

Johan Grobbelaar

For so long overlooked by Erasmus, the Bulls stars has a chance to stake a real claim for one of the two hooking berths going forward but, needless to say, Grobbelaar needs a big match to convince Erasmus that he can be a quality Test operator.

The Springboks head coach for whatever reason has yet to be convinced by the 27-year-old, but for the Bulls he is a significant breakdown threat, carries well at both close quarters and in the wider channels, and is usually accurate in the set-piece.

Edwill van der Merwe

The two other scrum-capped wings, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, have both shown their class over the past couple of weeks, even if the latter was found wanting a couple of times in defence against France. You therefore have to think they are the first choice duo currently, but Van der Merwe will just be thankful that he has got another chance to shine after returning from injury.

He missed the majority of the Rugby Championship and was not involved against Japan and the French despite being fit, but the 29-year-old will now hope to shine against the Azzurri and put pressure on Kolbe and Arendse.

Ethan Hooker and Canan Moodie

While Erasmus has made plenty of alterations and, from the outside, is perhaps looking to give some fringe players a chance, it could be argued that is not the case for these two. Italy are incredibly strong in the midfield with Tommaso Menoncello and Juan Ignacio Brex one of the best combinations around, so Hooker and Moodie have been given firm backing by their head coach.

Both will surely be starting key Rugby World Cup matches in the future given their immense talent and it could well be together in the midfield, despite their versatility. Both can play out wide but this game will give an indication as to whether they can combine effectively against two outstanding players in Menoncello and Brex.

Jean Kleyn

It still boggles the mind that Kleyn was not considered good enough by Ireland but their loss has been the Springboks’ gain. The lock has endured his injury troubles since the 2023 Rugby World Cup and has not played for the Boks since the Barbarians clash in June, but he returns for this encounter and will form a pretty hefty second-row partnership with Franco Mostert.

Locks who are powerful at close quarters and dominate the collisions at the ruck are valuable commodities in the modern game and that is what Kleyn will give to South Africa this weekend and beyond. They have so much depth in the engine room but it says a lot that Erasmus has kept the Munster forward involved.

Springboks team: Rassie Erasmus’ risky hooker gamble in one of ELEVEN changes

Losers

Manie Libbok

The fly-half has responded to adversity impressively. After the Johannesburg shambles against the Wallabies, some thought that would be the end of Libbok’s Test career, but the playmaker has remained a key part of the squad.

However, he has not yet been trusted to start since that fateful day in August and on Saturday is once again on the bench with Handre Pollard entrusted with the responsibility in the number 10 jersey. There is still Ireland and Wales left in this northern hemisphere tour for Libbok to get another chance ahead of Pollard and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, but it is interesting that Rassie has kept him among the replacements.

Asenathi Ntlabakanye

Was called into the squad from the standby list after an injury to Ox Nche, but the youngster Porthen has been chosen ahead of the gargantuan tighthead. Ntlabakanye is still available despite being under a doping cloud and this would have been the ideal game to bring him in, but Erasmus has opted for experience on the bench in the shape of Wilco Louw.

Jan-Hendrik Wessels

Would have surely been involved had it not been for that controversial ban. Wessels, with his ability to play prop and hooker, was becoming a key part of the Springboks squad and his absence is being somewhat felt this weekend with no out-and-out hooker in reserve – back-rower Marco van Staden has instead taken that role.

Bongi Mbonambi and Marnus van der Merwe

As mentioned, Van Staden will take over in the front-row should Grobbelaar go down, which means that, for one, Erasmus is taking a gamble but it also begs the question why neither Mbonambi or Van der Merwe were called into the squad.

The former was placed on the standby list while the latter, despite featuring for South Africa four times this year, is currently nowhere to be seen from a Test perspective. For Mbonambi, it seems to confirm that the Boks boss is easing him out of the international equation ahead of the Rugby World Cup, but it is slightly more confusing in Van der Merwe’s case.

Ireland

Italy showed they are a very good side in dispatching the Wallabies last weekend, so it is another calculated decision from Erasmus to rotate this much but, if it does come off, then they will have a well-rested set of players for their match against Ireland. And on the performances Andy Farrell’s men have shown this year, they probably won’t enjoy facing a fully-loaded Boks.

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