BOK SELECTION: This time Rassie goes for Bomb Squad 'Deluxe'

The Springboks didn’t have a proper ‘Bomb Squad’ effect in the reserve bench selected for last week’s first Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash with Australia, but coach Rassie Erasmus has made up for that by going with what you could call the deluxe model for the Cape Town test.

The real definition of the term Bomb Squad, which was invented by Erasmus’s team when the six/two split between forwards and backs was deployed with such devastating effect during the 2019 Rugby World Cup, is a reserve bench which features two full separate tight fives.

Which is what Erasmus has gone for here, and even more so if you consider he has Franco Mostert, who is normally a lock, playing in Pieter-Steph du Toit’s place at blindside flank.

Du Toit, together with skipper Siya Kolisi, who played off the back of the scrum last week and did it really well, is missing from Saturday’s team because of injury.

Which is why the back row has a very different look to it, with Jean-Luc du Preez joining Mostert among the changes to the pack that started last week.

Marco van Staden, outstanding in the early stages of last week's game and who was missed when he went off for a 15-minute HIA assessment that coincided with a bit of a momentum shift, is the only back-row starting survivor from last week's game.

The other changes up front are the return of Thomas du Toit to his usual position of tighthead (he played loosehead to help out in an emergency earlier in the international season), a rare start for RG Snyman, who is usually one of the most influential Bomb Squad members, and Ruan Nortje.

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Rassie Erasmus has made a host of changes to his Springbok team that will face the Wallabies in the second match of #TheRugbyChampionship on Saturday 🇿🇦🚨#SSRugby pic.twitter.com/sx6523c0Pb
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 19, 2025

NORTJE HASN’T PLAYED A POOR TEST MATCH

The last mentioned player has been excellent in every test he has started for South Africa while Snyman is arguably one of the best locks in the world so the Boks won’t feel short of quality in the second row.

After all, it was against Australia in Australia that Nortje started to make a massive statement in his favour last week.

But while the starting pack looks a little lighter and thus perhaps more mobile than last week’s unit, there is behemoth quality coming off the bench in the form of Wilco Louw, Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager.

The Boks have a bench playing at the DHL Stadium that boasts a tight five that is at least the equal if not superior to the starting unit and provided all goes to plan and there are not early injuries to skew that plan, the Wallaby forwards are going to face a massive containment task in the second half.

If it were not telegraphed by Erasmus talking about his plan to go back to a six/two split in Cape Town even before last week’s game in Johannesburg, where the Boks just quite simply overplayed and ran themselves off their own feet, you might suggest this selection was made around the conditions.

🗣️ "We think it's going to be a grind of a game, if we have it our way."

Coach Rassie Erasmus breaks down his team selection for the second Test against the Wallabies on Saturday.#SSRugby | #TheRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/WcEhMbYSwV
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 19, 2025

SELECTION SHOULD SUIT ANTICIPATED CONDITIONS

Rain is expected for the weekend and even if it didn’t rain at this stage of winter the underfoot conditions at the DHL Stadium are usually a lot heavier underfoot than at Emirates Airlines Park or at the other venue at altitude, Loftus in Pretoria.

The plan for the Boks this week is an obvious one - they will be looking to suffocate the Australians and in that way negate the athletes that the visiting team boasts and which turned the game their way in the last part of the Johannesburg game.

As Erasmus said he would, he changed his intended selections slightly because of last week’s result, which was a 38-22 defeat.

“There were four guys who were in the team announced internally last week who unfortunately lost out because we lost momentum with that defeat and are now facing a must win situation,” said Erasmus.

“Krappies (Morne van den Bergh, Ethan (Hooker), Vincent (Koch) and one other player has missed out this week which is unfortunate but they all understand how it goes. If the team loses and there is a suggestion that momentum has been lost then the plan has to change. And that is also affected by injuries in other positions.”

Erasmus said that had it not been for the injuries out wide, with Kurt-Lee Arendse and Edwill van der Merwe both out of the squad now due to injury, Canan Moodie would have played outside centre.

Instead Jesse Kriel, who led the side in the first two matches of the season, not only gets to start this game but will captain the team in the absence from the playing squad of Kolisi and the starting team of Etzebeth.

KRIEL A GIMME AS CHOICE OF LEADER

That wouldn’t have been a difficult decision to make and Kriel’s leadership qualities shone through after the Emirates Airlines Park game where he was honest enough to acknowledge that he should have played a more pro-active role in getting the team to balance their game in the last quarter when the Wallabies were getting on top.

Du Preez will be playing his first game for the Boks since the non-test game that started the international year at Saturday’s venue at the beginning of July, but although many would say it was only the Barbarians, he was excellent before he left the field injured and showed what he can deliver.

The conditions in that game might be the same as those the game is played in this coming Saturday.

NO WIESE OR SIYA DOESN’T EQUATE TO NO8 CRISIS

Erasmus was pretty clear about what he thought when it was suggested to him at the team announcement press conference that there might be a No 8 crisis.

“There is no crisis at No 8,” he said. “Jasper (Wiese) is serving a suspension (after his red card against Italy in Gqeberha) and Siya was excellent there last week. He scored a try and he played well. Kwagga Smith when he came on in that position stole two balls but was unfortunately deemed by the referee to be off his feet when he did so. But he always brings impact.

“It is time for JL (du Preez) to get another chance to start. Everyone has asked when he is going to get another chance, and this is it.”

MOSTERT CLOSEST TO PIETER-STEPH

Erasmus said he had confidence in the changes he has made to cover for the absence of Du Toit in particular.

“Pieter-Steph is unfortunately unavailable to concussion and then injury but Sous (Mostert) has played there many times and is one of the fittest players in the team. He is the closest player in the Bok squad to Pieter-Steph in terms of what he can do.”

What Mostert can do apart from his high work-rate is bring the kind of lineout expertise that Du Toit does in his role at No 7.

“Sous knows what to do and we as a collective know what we did wrong last week,” said Erasmus.

“We feel Sous will be able to help us in the lineouts and in general play.”

VERY EXPERIENCED BACKLINE

Damian de Allende returns to the team at inside centre after recovering from his own injury and the return of Handre Pollard at flyhalf, again something that was always going to happen in this game, will add test match experience to a backline that outside of Kriel at No 13 was a little callow, in international rugby terms, last weekend.

Damian De Allende will move into 10th place on the list of most-capped Springboks this weekend ⏫

He is currently tied on 89 with Pieter-Steph du Toit and the late Joost van der Westhuizen 🤝#SSRugby | #TheRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/DWg7bfwXnZ
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 19, 2025

Cheslin Kolbe and Willie le Roux are two double World Cup winners who come into the back three to complete a very experienced backline, with just Moodie and scrumhalf Grant Williams having not played at least 50 test matches for their country.

SPRINGBOK MATCH DAY 23

STARTING TEAM

15 Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls) – 100 caps, 75 pts (15t)

14 Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls) – 15 caps, 35 pts (7t)

13 Jesse Kriel (captain, Canon Eagles) – 81 caps, 95 points (19t)

12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 89 caps, 55 points (11t)

11 Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath) – 41 caps, 111 points (18t, 3c, 5p)

10 Handre Pollard (Vodacom Bulls) - 82 caps, 797 points (7t, 116c, 168p, 5dg)

9 Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 20 caps, 25 pts (5t)

8 Jean-Luc du Preez (Bordeaux Begles) – 14 caps 10 points (2t)

7 Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 80 caps, 20 points (4t)

6 Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 28 caps, 15 pts (3t)