Springboks team: Winners & losers as new ‘swing prop’ experiment begins but Rassie Erasmus misses an ‘opportunity’
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus, scrum-half Cobus Reinach and prop Zachery Porthen.
Following the announcement of Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks team to face Wales, here are our winners and losers.
In South Africa’s final game of the year, Erasmus has opted to deploy a 7-1 split for the first time in 2025 due to the number of players who are unavailable.
The clash at the Principality Stadium is outside the official World Rugby window, which means both teams are without several of their star players.
But without further ado, here are the winners and losers from Erasmus‘ selections.
Winners
Cobus Reinach
A Rahul Dravid-esque innings as Cobus Reinach will finally raise the bat, notching up his 50th Test cap for the Springboks, hitting the milestone 11 years on from making his debut as a 24-year-old against the Wallabies.
At 35, Reinach is enjoying possibly the form of his international career and shows no sign of slowing down. It’s been one hell of a journey for the rapid scrum-half who was unfortunate to miss out on the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but made the most of his chances in the next two, setting the record for the fastest hat-trick in the tournament’s history, twice!
The only thing sluggish about Reinach has been his rise to 50 caps for the Boks, but reflecting on his career, he has produced his best when the team has needed it the most. His performances during the British and Irish Lions series in 2021 proved that he was far more than just a handy back-up to Faf de Klerk, and he has driven home that point time and time again since.
2025 has been a memorable year for the evergreen number nine, and to cap it off with his 50th appearance feels rather fitting.
Ethan Hooker
Ditto for Ethan Hooker as the Sharks’ rising star continues to adapt to life as a Springbok, a tag he has struggled to wrap his head around.
On Saturday, he earns his eighth Test cap for his country after debuting earlier this year, and perhaps the biggest compliment he can be paid is that for not a second has he looked out of place.
The 22-year-old should get comfortable with the tag ‘Springbok’ because, judging on his performances this year, the ‘ex’ prefix isn’t coming anytime soon.
Zachary Porthen
The surprise selection of November from the Springboks coaches was calling up uncapped Stormers prop Zachary Porthen and issuing him with a Test debut against Japan.
A tighthead prop by trade, scrum guru Daan Human and Erasmus seemingly have a new side project involving the former Junior Springboks captain, who will be tasked with covering loosehead prop this weekend.
The Springboks’ coaches love a utility player and look to be moulding Porthen into their latest ‘swing prop’. Trevor Nyakane and Thomas du Toit have dovetailed between loosehead and tighthead over the years, and now, Porthen follows in their first steps with Wales being his first litmus test.
The 21-year-old is in the right mould to thrive on both sides of the scrum and has youth on his side with at least a 10-year career still ahead of him. This selection is very much with an eye to the future, but if he overcomes this challenge, the Stormers youngster could lock in a spot in the squad next year.
Japanese clubs
While the Wallabies have struggled for access to Japanese-based players in recent seasons, the Springboks have not, and this week’s selection is perhaps the first time that Erasmus has not been able to call upon all of his stars based in Asia for a game outside of the official window.
The Bok boss explained that some of the clubs asked ‘nicely’ to have access to the players a week earlier, and it seems like a rather fair trade-off.
The relationship between SA Rugby and the Japanese clubs looks to be as strong as ever despite the likes of Cheslin Kolbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Malcolm Marx being absent this week, but considering how many times they have been available in out-of-window Tests, it’s fair enough.
Jean Kleyn
Munster fans will be holding their breath for the 60 or so minutes that Jean Kleyn is on the pitch for the Springboks, hoping and praying that he does not sustain an injury.
It’s clear that the Irish Rugby Union is not nearly as strict as PREM Rugby when it comes to allowing players to represent their country outside of the international window, with RG Snyman playing against Japan and now Kleyn against Wales.
While the Munster faithful will be disappointed that the second-rower is not in the mix for selection against the Stormers this weekend, it may well serve him well to get a run out in a Test match and have him firing for the start of the Investec Champions Cup.
Rassie Erasmus
A running theme throughout the year, but it’s hard not to marvel at the sheer squad depth that Erasmus has at his disposal.
Despite being significantly hamstrung by the plethora of unavailable players, the Bok boss has still managed to put out a powerful-looking team with no less than eight Rugby World Cup winners in the starting XV and a further four on the bench.
Coupled with that, he has selected one of the biggest Springbok teams in recent memory, considering the height and weight of the matchday 23. That’s highlighted by the fact that he has essentially picked four centres in the backline, along with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Damian Willemse, who could do the job there too.
The seven forward replacements wouldn’t be out of their depth starting a big Test match either. Erasmus is certainly spoilt for choice, but deserves the kudos for building it too.
Ex-Springboks captain: ‘I’ve got no reason to sing Rassie’s praises… I hated him’
Welsh Rugby
There have been those questioning whether this Test match is even worth it for both teams, considering how depleted the two respective sides are for the fixture.
But having read through the names on the Springboks’ teamsheet, the Welsh Rugby Union is somewhat vindicated by the decision to host the world champions in the final Test match of the year.
Losers
Wales
At the same time, it is a daunting task for Steve Tandy and his charges with so many of the best-performing Wales stars returning to the PREM Rugby clubs.
Earlier this week, the bookies had the Springboks as 35-point victors on Saturday, and only time will tell if that was a conservative prediction.
Ben-Jason Dixon
Clutching at straws a bit here as Ben-Jason Dixon does find himself among the seven reserves in what will be just his second appearance in Green and Gold this year.
The Stormers loose forward, missing the first batch of Tests through injury, finally made his return to the side against Italy. However, the red card to Franco Mostert cut his game short after just 20 minutes, and this week, Mostert has been preferred to Dixon in the starting line-up.
Unavailable players
While it’s certainly a win for the Japanese clubs to get their players back earlier, the likes of Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Manie Libbok, Jesse Kriel, and Kolbe would have loved one more opportunity to pull on the Green and Gold jersey.
The same applies to Bath front-rower Thomas du Toit and Edinburgh’s Boan Venter, who have proven to be crucial cogs in the squad this year.
Handre Pollard and Libbok will have also fancied their chances of getting a start this week had the Bulls and Liners not requested their services, and out of the lot, the duo arguably had the most to gain from donning a starting jumper.
Edwill van der Merwe and Grant Williams are also unavailable, but they may be less bothered as the former returned home early to celebrate the birth of his child, while the latter has been a consistent feature in matchday squads.
Fringe hookers
Bongi Mbonambi returns to the Springboks matchday squad for the final game of the year but one has to wonder whether Erasmus could have instead used the opportunity to test out another fringe hooker.
Perhaps he deemed that Johan Grobbelaar needed a more experienced head as an insurance policy, and that would be fair enough.
However, the Boks know the quality that they have in Mbonambi and could have tested out another option, perhaps Andre-Hugo Venter or even Fez Mbatha.
That was probably the plan with Junior Springboks hooker Siphosethu Mnebelele before injury struck. Still, it does feel like a missed opportunity.
