Jordan Hendrikse and Edwill van der Merwe will make their starting debuts while Ben-Jason Dixon and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are new additions to the bench.
Rassie Erasmus can’t wait to unleash a rejigged Springbok team with Pieter-Steph du Toit leading the charge for their 2024 opener against Wales in London on Saturday.
Five players in the starting XV featured in the same positions in the 2023 Rugby World Cup final in October, where the Boks edged the All Blacks to be crowned world champions for the second time in a row. Erasmus opted for a five-three split in favour of the forwards on the replacements bench, which includes four world cup winners.
“They will be surrounded by several experienced campaigners – some of whomare Rugby World Cup winners – so they will have enough guidance on the field to fulfil their roles even when the pressure is on. It is equally exciting for us to see players such as Aphelele , Evan , Ntuthuko , and Salmaan back in the green in gold after earning their stripes in the last few seasons.”
“Pieter-Steph has been a key figure in our system for several years now and he’s a player who leads by example on the field,” said Erasmus. “We have a strong core of senior players in this group, and we had a few options for captain, but we feel Pieter-Steph will be the right man to lead the team this week.
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