Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has called up five players to the squad for their closing test of the Castle Lager Incoming Series against Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday, with the 41-man squad featuring seven uncapped players.
Two players, Franco Mostert (lock) and Edwill van der Merwe (winger), have been ruled out due injuries, with the extent of their respective injuries set to be confirmed on Monday, while centre Damian de Allende was permitted to exit the camp due to personal reasons.
Capped Springboks Elrigh Louw (loose forward) and Ntuthuko Mchunu (prop) and the uncapped Quan Horn (fullback), Andre-Hugo Venter (hooker) and Ruan Venter (looseforward) - who attended the Bok alignment camps in May - joined the current group of players, including eight of the nine players who were released to their provincial unions last week to participate in the Carling Currie Cup.
Erasmus stated on Saturday night that several players would be released on Wednesday once the team had concluded their main on-field preparations for the historic test against Portugal, which will play out at Toyota Stadium on Saturday.
The Springboks arrived in the Free State capital on Sunday afternoon and will begin their on-field preparations for the clash on Monday as they look to bounce back from their heart-breaking defeat 25-24 defeat against Ireland in Durban on Saturday.
'LONG AND CHALLENGING SEASON'
“It was always part of our planning to expose a few players to top class international rugby against Portugal in line with our objective to build squad depth with an eye on the 2027 Rugby World Cup,” said Erasmus.
“Some of the players had a taste of international rugby against Wales at Twickenham, others received an opportunity off the bench against Ireland, and Andre-Hugo Venter toured with us to London for the Wales test, so we are delighted with the quality of the players coming through the ranks.
“Portugal are a quality team as they showed in the Rugby World Cup last year by defeating Fiji, and we have no doubt they’ll want to make a strong statement against us, so although we may mix things up for this test, we’ll select a quality team that we have full faith in to get our season back on track.”
Erasmus added: “The players we plan to release will continue to put in the hard yards to prepare the team that will face Portugal, as we generally do with the non-playing players, which is invaluable in preparing the team as well as possible.”
Erasmus admitted that while it was a blow to go down against Ireland, the break for the players set to be released will be important as they look ahead to a challenging Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign which features back-to-back tests against Australia (in Brisbane on 10 and Perth on 17 August), two home tests against New Zealand in Johannesburg and Cape Town (31 August and 7 September), a test against Argentina in Santiago (21 September) and the final match of the series against the Pumas in Nelspruit (28 September).
“This is a long and challenging season, and as much as it would have been great to win both matches against Ireland, it’s vital that we manage the players well to allow them to regenerate in order to maximise their performances throughout the season,” said Erasmus.
“Those players will have 10 days off, which means they’ll be fresh when they rejoin the squad before the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.”
Erasmus will announce his matchday team to face Portugal on Tuesday.
SPRINGBOK SQUAD FOR THE MATCH AGAINST PORTUGAL:
Props: Ntuthuko Mchunu, Ox Nche (both Hollywoodbets Sharks), Gerhard Steenekamp, Jan-Hendrik Wessels (both Vodacom Bulls), Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers), Vincent Koch, Trevor Nyakane (both Hollywoodbets Sharks), Thomas du Toit (Bath).
Hookers: Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), Johan Grobbelaar (Vodacom Bulls), Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers).
Locks: Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Salmaan Moerat (DHL Stormers), RG Snyman (Leinster).
Loose forwards: Siya Kolisi (Racing 92), Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden (both Vodacom Bulls), Phepsi Buthelezi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz), Ben-Jason Dixon, Evan Roos (both DHL Stormers), Ruan Venter (Emirates Lions), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs), Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers).
Scrumhalves: Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles), Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Cobus Reinach (Montpellier), Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions).
Flyhalves: Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie Libbok (both DHL Stormers).
Centres: Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen (both Hollywoodbets Sharks), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles).
Outside backs: Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls), Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath), Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls), Makazole Mapimpi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Quan Horn (Emirates Lions).