Erasmus names experienced side for Rugby Championship opener against Australia

TEAM NAMED: Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has gone with an experienced side for his opening clash in the Rugby Championship against Australia. Pic:  CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus has named an experienced side for their opening Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash against Australia at Ellis Park on Saturday.

There are 18 Rugby World Cup winners named in the side with just three players who have less than five Test caps for the Springboks - Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Edwill van der Merwe and Asenathi Ntlabakanye - who made his Test debut against Italy in July.

The Springboks are in the hunt for their fifth successive win over Australia after defeating them in both Rugby Championship games in Australia last season and once each in 2022 and 2023.

Spingbok lock Eben Etzebeth looks set to extend his record as the most capped Bok off all time to 134 matches and will see him pass Ireland's Conor Murray from joint 11th place in the global standings to joint 10th alongside Welsh prop Gethin Jenkins.

Erasmus has named an exciting backline with Aphelele Fassi, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Van der Merwe with Jesse Kriel joining Andre Esterhuizen in the centre after Damian de Allende picked up an injury. Speaking about the niggle De Allende picked up Erasmus said  “Damian picked up a back niggle in the last two weeks and will train again this week, but Andre has been strong for us in the last few seasons, so it was an easy decision to name him alongside Jesse in the midfield.”

Manie Libbok and Grant Williams will pair up at halfback.

Captain Siya Kolisi will wear the No. 8 jersey for the first time in a Test with flankers Pieter-Steph du Toit and Marco van Staden. Etzebeth and Lood de Jager will man the engine room. The front row is made up of Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw.

Erasmus has gone for a five-three split on the bench with Bongi Mbonambi, Wessels and Ntlabakanye are front row replacements with utility forwards Franco Mostert and Kwagga Smith. The three backs on the bench will be Cobus Reinach, Canan Moodie and Damian Willemse.

Erasmus will be experimenting with player combinations during the Series. “We’ve been experimenting with player combinations during the Castle Lager Incoming Series and at our conditioning camp in the last two weeks, and we believe this team will allow us to play the type of rugby we want to play against Australia,” said Erasmus.

“The Wallabies will be determined to change their win record against us in the last three seasons, so they’ll come out guns blazing, and we are confident that the players we selected will be up for the challenge.

“All of the starters except for Edwill have faced them before, and we are confident that he is ready for this challenge.”

Erasmus added: “Cheslin (Kolbe) has also recovered from a niggle and trained with us last week, but we decided to exercise caution and give him extra time at training before selecting him. Edwill has been in good form this season, and it will be good to see what he brings in this match.”

The Wallabies will be heading into the series full off confidence after their 22-12 win over the British and Irish Lions in their Third test while they pushed the Lions all the way to the end in a thrilling second Test with Erasmus expecting a tough challenge from Joe Schmidt's side.

“Australia showed that they are on the right trajectory in their last two matches against the British & Irish Lions and we have no doubt they will enter this match with confidence and determined to build on those performances,” he said.

“They are a physical and well-coached team, and we’ll certainly not underestimate how much those performances, combined with their motivation to bounce back strongly against us after the last few results between the teams, and win their first match ever at Ellis Park, will inspire them.

“That said, we have also been working hard to keep building on our game and improve, and we believe our two-week conditioning camp has placed us in the right frame of mind for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship. So hopefully we can transfer that hard work into our game to place ourselves in a good position to defend the title.”

SOUTH AFRICA (v Australia)

: A Fassi, E van der Merwe, J Kriel, A Esterhuizen, K-L Arendse, M Libbok, G Williams; O Nche, M Marx, W Louw, E Etzebeth, L de Jager, M van Staden, P-S du Toit, S Kolisi (c).

Replacements: B Mbonambi, J-H Wessels, A Ntlabakanye, F Mostert, K Smith, C Reinach, C Moodie, D Willemse.