This Saturday, Boan Venter, Marnus van der Merwe, and Neethling Fouche will all make their Springbok debuts against Georgia in Nelspruit.
The three uncapped front rankers will increase the number of newly capped players this season to seven after Vincent Tshituka (flanker), Cobus Wiese (utility forward), Asenathi Ntlabakanye (prop), and Ethan Hooker (utility back) all made their Test debuts against Italy.
With Siya Kolisi also returning from injury, and Venter in the squad, it increases the size of the group used by Erasmus so far this season to 46 players, with the matchday squad for this weekend featuring 15 Rugby World Cup winners.
Erasmus was excited to see the three uncapped players and Kolisi in action and said: “We wanted to make sure that Siya is 100% fit before selecting him, so it’s great to have him back in the squad, while Boan, Marnus, and Neethling have been training hard and deserve their chance.
“Marnus and Neethling played against the Barbarians, so they have an idea of what international rugby is about, while Boan has shown great potential at club level and with the squad in the last few weeks, and we are looking forward to seeing him play.”
Erasmus added: “Building squad depth has been one of our pillars as a squad since 2018, and they are all undoubtedly ready to make the step-up.”
Kick off on Saturday is at 17:10.
SPRINGBOKS STATS AND FACTS FOR GEORGIA TEST
- It will be the Georgians’ second trip to South Africa to face the Springboks – the same number of times the nations have met to date. Their first outing was in the pool stages of the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia where the Springboks won 46-19, and the second time in Pretoria in 2021 when the Boks registered a 40-9 victory.
- Eben Etzebeth will extend his record as the most capped Springbok of all time to 133 Test matches when he takes the field.
- This match will mark Siya Kolisi’s first match back in the green and gold in the 2025 season.
- Kurt-Lee Arendse requires only five more points to score 100 Test points for the Springboks.
- Kolisi will require only seven more Test appearances after this match to become the ninth Springbok in the history of South African rugby to earn 100 Test caps.
- The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 484.
- There are 165 caps in the backline, with 319 caps amongst the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 437 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline are 24, the forwards 40, while the players on the bench average 55.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE SELECTION STRATEGY SO FAR THIS SEASON?
Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 0211.
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