Rassie has Bok World Cup stars back from injury in squad to face All Blacks

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has included three Rugby World Cup (RWC) winners who haven’t seen action this year due to injury in his the squad for the Rugby Championship Tests against the All Blacks.

The Boks welcome back prop Steven Kitshoff, scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse and Canan Moodie for the matches at Ellis Park on August 31 and Cape Town Stadium on September 7.

Erasmus has also recalled No 8 Jasper Wiese, centre André Esterhuizen — both World Cup winners in 2023 — and lock Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg for the 37-man squad that will assemble in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The Bok coach has opted to increase the squad from 33 players to 37 for the two sold-out Tests.

With locks Franco Mostert, Lood de Jager and Jean Kleyn still on the injured list, Janse van Rensburg, who played his first and only Test match against Argentina in Gqeberha in 2021, earned his first call-up back to the national squad.

The squad features 31 of the 33 players who travelled to Australia for South Africa’s opening Rugby Championship Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane and Perth, where they collected a full house of points for the first time in history on tour.

Those results also marked the first time since 1998 that the Boks registered back-to-back victories on a tour to Australasia.

With Hendrikse back from injury and Jan-Hendrik Wessels equally adept at prop and hooker, Morne van den Berg and Johan Grobbelaar were left out for these two Tests. They will remain on standby along with the other players included in Erasmus’ initial 45-man group in the event of injuries.

Kitshoff (knee), Hendrikse (shoulder) and Moodie (finger) have all recovered fully and have played in the Currie Cup, while Wiese and Esterhuizen are back in contention for selection after suspensions.

Apart from Mostert, De Jager and Kleyn, other players ruled out of contention for selection due to injury are No 8 Evan Roos and scrumhalves Herschel Jantjies and Faf de Klerk.

“New Zealand are ranked third in the world, and they always Test us to the limit,” Erasmus said.

“We also saw last week what they can do under pressure when they defeated Argentina 42-10 after going down in their first Test against the Pumas. We know these two Tests will provide a completely different challenge to what we’ve faced against an Australian team still finding their feet with a new coach and a bunch of young players coming through the ranks.

“It’s good to have Steven, Jaden and Canan back from injury, along with Jasper and Andre. They are all Rugby World Cup winners who have delivered quality performances consistently against the top teams in the world, so they’ll bring experience and their unique skill sets to this squad.”

Erasmus said the Boks were in a good position in terms of squad depth, with 32 of the 33 players on tour playing against the Wallabies retained. “The only exception was RG Snyman who suffered a foot niggle.

“We have full faith in the young players to showcase their talent again against a completely different opponent in New Zealand. Adding to that, all these players, with the exception of Nicolaas, were members of our training squad in Pretoria in July and our alignment camps earlier in the year. They’ve been regular members of the squad in the last few years, so they understand our systems and should slot in with ease.

“Nicolaas has had a good season with Montpellier and is a capped Springbok, so we are excited to welcome him back into the fold.”

Erasmus said Snyman should be available for selection for the Ellis Park Test after having two weeks to recover from the foot niggle he picked up at training in Brisbane.

On the decision to select Wessels as his third-choice hooker, Erasmus said: “Jan-Hendrik is a versatile player who enjoys playing both prop and hooker. And we also have Marco van Staden, who can slot into the middle of the front row if needed, hence we opted against selecting another hooker. That said we have drawn up an extensive list of standby players who could slot in at any time if we suffer injuries.”

The Springboks arrived back in South Africa from Australia in two groups on Monday and Tuesday. After the All Blacks Tests, they will wrap up the Rugby Championship with a short tour to Argentina, meeting Los Pumas in Santiago on September 21, then again at Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on September 18.

Springbok squad for the New Zealand Tests in the Rugby Championship:

Props: Thomas du Toit (Bath), Steven Kitshoff (Stormers), Vincent Koch (Sharks), Frans Malherbe (Stormers), Ox Nche (Sharks), Gerhard Steenekamp (Bulls), Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Bulls).

Hookers: Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), Bongi Mbonambi (Sharks).

Locks: Eben Etzebeth (Sharks), Salmaan Moerat (Stormers), Ruan Nortje (Bulls), RG Snyman (Leinster), Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg (Montpellier).

Loose forwards: Ben-Jason Dixon (Stormers), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92), Elrigh Louw (Bulls), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs), Marco van Staden (Bulls), Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers).

Scrumhalves: Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks), Cobus Reinach (Montpellier), Grant Williams (Sharks).

Flyhalves: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Stormers), Manie Libbok (Stormers), Handré Pollard (Leicester Tigers).

Centres: Lukhanyo Am (Sharks), Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), André Esterhuizen (Sharks), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles).

Outside backs: Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls), Aphelele Fassi (Sharks), Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath), Willie le Roux (Bulls), Makazole Mapimpi (Sharks), Canan Moodie (Bulls).

SA Rugby