Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has selected what looks close to his strongest available team for Saturday’s opening match of the away leg of the Nations Championship against Italy in Turin.
It was speculated beforehand that the Boks might go under-strength and give some of the newcomers a go as Italy are arguably the less challenging of their initial opponents on tour, but that would have involved introducing new players off just a few days of training.
All the combinations playing on Saturday have played together for the Boks before, even the one area where there is a shift from the normal, which is in the second row.
With Eben Etzebeth missing the tour that takes in games in Paris and Dublin before the Finals day in London at the end of the month Salmaan Moerat has been brought in to partner Ruan Nortje in the second row.
Moerat, who left the Stormers in the off-season and is now playing for French club La Rochelle, has not played for the Boks this year as he was out during the southern hemisphere international season with injury and missed much of his last Vodacom URC season with his former team.
However, he was paired with Nortje, who he also played with at national schools and age-group level, in the engine-room when he captained the Boks against Italy in Gqeberha last July.
Moerat dropped out of the Bok equation for a while last year and did not play any part in the 2025 winning campaign in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship so he will have something to prove on his return to the Bok team.
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Rassie Erasmus names his Springbok team to face Italy in round four of the #NationsChampionship on Saturday afternoon 🇿🇦🇮🇹 #SSRugby https://t.co/ONt8bZLngN
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 2, 2026
He has captained the Boks in the past so it will be a boost for Erasmus if he comes through well on Saturday, particularly as in addition to Etzebeth, the Boks are also missing the injured RG Snyman.
Erasmus’s decision to leave out Cobus Wiese, who did well at No 4 lock when used there in the home leg of the Nations Championship, was one of the more confounding omissions, both for this trip to Europe and for the recent trip to Baltimore for the final Rugby’s Greatest Rivaly series game and the subsequent trip to Australia.
14 CHANGES TO TEAM THAT PLAYED IN PERTH
The Bok team starting the Turin test is a vastly more experienced one to the one that lost narrowly to the Wallabies last time out in Perth towards the end of September.
In all, there are 14 changes from the side that started that game, with left wing Ethan Hooker the only survivor, although there are five players starting in Turin who played off the bench in the 42-38 defeat in Perth.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu moves to the starting team from the bench, as does his halfback partner Morne van den Berg, No 8 Jasper Wiese, loosehead prop Ox Nche and hooker Malcolm Marx.
Tighthead prop Wilco Louw reprises in the Italy game his role as a member of the replacement’s bench in Perth.
The side to start against Italy shows just two changes to the side that started the final RGR test in Baltimore - Louw started in that game and is now on the bench and Moerat replaces Etzebeth.
The Bok bench, which is a six/two configuration between forwards and backs, is also loaded with what you’d consider first choice match day squad members, with Gerhard Steenekamp the prop joining Louw on the bench, Jan-Hendrik Wessels penned in as the back up hooker, Lood de Jager there to bring his physical presence later in the game, Paul de Villiers, Cameron Hanekom, Grant Williams and Manie Libbok completing the group.
SELECTION SIGNALS RASSIE’S INTENT
The selection suggests that Erasmus intends going all out to make the final, which pits the team top of the southern hemisphere log against the team that tops the northern log.
Currently the Boks and New Zealand are level pegging at the top of the southern group, with the South Africans nominally ahead on points difference.
Securing bonus points and favourable points differential is going to be crucial to the Bok chances of being in the main event come the finals weekend at Twickenham at the end of the month.
“We have three challenging matches ahead if we want to advance to the last game of the Finals Weekend, so our new three matches will be vital to lay a strong foundation for the tour,” said Erasmus after naming his match day 23.
“All of our energy is focused on the match against Italy for now. Fortunately some of the Japan-based players were able to travel to Italy ahead of the rest of the squad, so they have been working with some of the coaching staff for a few days already and are fully in the swing of things, while we had our first full training session in Italy on Monday afternoon.”
Erasmus added that the continuity in the selection from the RGR series made him confident that the Boks would get the away leg of the Championship campaign off to a strong start.
“With the majority of the squad having played together for most of the season, we are confident that the players who arrived later because they were involved in the URC and the French Top 14 will ease into things seamlessly this week at training,” he said.
“The fact that they are battle hardened after a few tough matches will offer us a good balance with fresh players raring to go and others who come off a few challenging matches for their franchises and clubs.”
NEWCOMERS TO GET USED TO STRUCTURES FIRST
Turning to the six newcomers who have yet to be capped, Erasmus indicated that he would like to give them all playing opportunities on tour.
“They all joined us in camp today and are excited about the tour that lies ahead,” said the Springbok coach.
“We will expose them to our structures this week and monitor how they progress and hopefully we will be able to give them a chance to show what they can do at this level against top opposition over the next few weeks. They are special players and will bring something different to the team. We have full faith in their talent and skill sets.”
Springbok team: Damian Willemse, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Morne van den Berg, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Ruan Nortje, Salmaan Moerat, Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche.
Replacements: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, Wilco Louw, Lood de Jager, Cameron Hanekom, Paul de Villiers, Grant Williams, Manie Libbok.
Springbok record against Italy:
Played 19; Won 18; Lost 1; Points for: 883, Points against: 233; Tries scored 117, Tries conceded 21; Highest score 101-0; Biggest win 101 points. Win per cent 94,7 per cent.
Miscellaneous:
- The Springboks have faced Italy 18 times and won 17 of those matches. Their only defeat was in Florence in 2016, where Italy pipped the Boks by 20-18.
- This will mark the second time the teams face one another in Turin – their first outing in the city was last year, when the Springboks won 32-14.
- Jesse Kriel requires only five more test caps following this encounter to reach the significant milestone of earning 100 test appearances.
- 2025 World Rugby and SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year, Malcolm Marx, needs to play only five more tests to join the exclusive 100s club.
- Salmaan Moerat will play his first test of the season in the Bok jersey after recovering from the injuries that sidelined him for the team’s previous test matches.
- The total test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 835.
- There are 357 caps in the backline, with 478 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 208 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline is 51, the forwards 60, while the players on the bench average 26.