When Rassie Erasmus is the Springbok coach, you can always expect the unexpected, and there is that in his team selection for Saturday’s second Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry test in Cape Town - veteran Deon Fourie, who plays most of his rugby these days at flank, is the back-up hooker.
Fourie, lest it be forgotten, ended up playing most of the World Cup final in 2023 against these same opponents at hooker due to the injury to Bongi Mbonambi. He effectively ended that game, won by one point by the Boks, as the de facto Bok captain, as regular skipper Siya Kolisi had been replaced by then.
Kolisi is in the starting team for the return game at DHL Stadium, which is an indication that he is on the road to recovery from the hamstring injury suffered against Argentina two weeks before this series started. But according to coach Rassie Erasmus, he was still struggling a bit on Sunday, and his participation in Saturday’s game depends on him getting through Monday afternoon’s training session.
100TH GAME FOR PIETER-STEPH
That is the reason he and Paul de Villiers are bracketed at openside flank, and at this point Pieter-Steph du Toit, who plays his 100th game in his former home city, is still the captain. However, as Erasmus explained, that could change if Kolisi is declared fit.
“If he gets through training, that will mean Siya plays in the game, and that is why he is slashed with Paul on the team sheet,” explained Erasmus.
“As Siya is a doubt, we have kept Pieter-Steph as captain. But that can obviously change if Siya is declared fit to play.”
If Kolisi does play in Cape Town, his return will be the only change to the starting pack that played at Ellis Park. There are three changes at the back, with two of them maybe predicted after the Bok halfbacks struggled in the first test, with that struggle being a big reason why the Boks weren't able to get over the line as winners in a game they dominated up front.
POLLARD BACK AS HORSES FOR COURSES SELECTION
Cobus Reinach returns as the starting scrumhalf for Grant Williams, who drops out of the matchday squad completely. Handre Pollard, who tends to play the Cape Town tests, and that may well be down to the Cape winter weather conditions, with rain predicted for the day of the game, comes in for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, though, still retains a place on the bench as the only outside back, and given his utility value he could still have a big role to play in the attempt to wrest the series back to one-all. The other backline change sees Ethan Hooker return on the wing for Cheslin Kolbe, who left the field at Ellis Park with cramp, but Erasmus says that injury has now also been established as “a bit of an ankle”.
He even hinted that Kolbe might sneak back into the team later in the week, assuming he recovers, but it appears likely the more physically imposing Hooker will be wearing the No 11 against the All Blacks this time.
As expected, the experienced duo of Thomas du Toit and Lood de Jager return to a bench that was less like the usual Bomb Squad, which is in its pure form an entire tight five waiting to take over, in Johannesburg. It will be recalled that De Jager almost singlehandedly shifted the momentum of the 2021 Lions series when he came on at halftime and his big ball-carrying presence as well as his lineout intelligence is a welcome addition to the matchday squad.
MORNE IN AS SCRUMHALF BACK-UP
Morne van den Bergh comes in as the replacement scrumhalf, while the insanely talented Cameron Hanekom is another loose-forward reserve, along with the hybrid option Andre Esterhuizen, who retains his place, and of course Fourie, who played his way back into the squad with an outstanding game as fetcher for the Stormers against the All Blacks in the first game of the tour.
OX REACHES 50
Joining centurion Du Toit in making a landmark appearance for the Boks is loosehead prop Ox Nche, who will be reaching his 50 on Saturday. Ultimately, All Black coach Dave Rennie was correct in his post-match prediction that the Boks would “double down”, meaning retain the same approach as last weekend. And why not, for with a little bit of fine-tuning, the same kind of physical and territorial dominance will give the Boks a good chance of winning this time.
Springbok team: Damian Willemse, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker, Handre Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi/Paul de Villiers, Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche. Replacements: Deon Fourie, Gerhard Steenekamp, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Andre Esterhuizen, Cameron Hanekom, Morne van den Bergh, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.