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South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has announced an end to the large-scale squad experiments that have characterised recent Springbok fixtures, confirming that a more settled group of 36 players will be named on Tuesday for next month’s Rugby Championship clashes against Australia.
Erasmus told reporters that while the upcoming squad would primarily consist of experienced players who fit into the Springboks’ tactical plans, there would still be space for one or two emerging talents.
“We had the chance to experiment against the Barbarians, Italy, and Georgia in our warm-up matches, and we were pleased with the results,” he said.
“We used 46 players and handed out several first caps. There are still players we’d like to give opportunities to, like Jaden and Jordan Hendrikse, Quan Horn, and Renzo du Plessis.”
The Springboks will begin their Rugby Championship title defence with back-to-back fixtures against Australia in Johannesburg and Cape Town before taking on New Zealand twice and Argentina both home and away.
The latter match has been relocated to London from South America. A challenging European tour awaits in November, with fixtures against France in Paris and Ireland in Dublin.
Erasmus, who played a pivotal role in South Africa’s 2019 and 2023 World Cup triumphs, also reflected on the outcomes of the recent preparatory matches, including a 55-10 win over Georgia.
“We’re generally satisfied with our four games,” he said, pointing to wins over the Barbarians (54-7) and Italy (42-24 and 45-0), alongside the Georgia result. Each match featured significant personnel rotation, with 10 to 16 changes in the matchday squad across the fixtures.
Erasmus also addressed fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s performance, noting the player sustained a hip injury during the warm-up, which may have affected his accuracy, as he missed four of five conversion attempts.
“Sacha insisted on playing, and although it doesn’t excuse his kicking, he certainly wasn’t among the players who made the most mistakes,” Erasmus said.
Replacement Handré Pollard, who took over in the second half, converted all four of his kicks and scored a try.
