This Saturday at 5:00pm, South Africa will play their first Test match of the summer against Ireland.
This Tuesday, South African coach Rassie Erasmus revealed the team composition that will begin this meeting.
Note that only three players were absent from the Springboks squad against Ireland in the World Cup win in France: prop Gerhard Steenkamp, second row Salman Moirath and fullback Sacha Feinberg – Mangomezulu.
Springbok coach Razi Erasmus spoke. Extract:
“We believe this team will give us the momentum to face Ireland, the second highest ranked team in the world. We are fortunate to have a lot of depth in our squad and to have a number of Rugby World Cup winners in our ranks who know what it takes to perform at the highest level.
It's an advantage for us that most of them have played together, most of them have played against Ireland before, so they're well aware of the challenge ahead of them, especially because they haven't beaten us since 2016.
Note that Zia Kolisi will be the starter. He will also be the captain.
Winger Cheslin Kolbe and Eben Etzebat will start the match.
Here is South Africa's line-up against Ireland:
Red Willy
Cheslin Kolbe
Jesse Creel
Damien de Allende
Kurt-Lee Arendse
Handre Pollard
Faf de Clerk
Quagga Smith
Peter-Steph du Toit
Zia Kolisi (Captain)
Franco Mostert
Eben Etzebeth
Franz Malherbe
Bongi Mbonambi
Bull
Substitutes:
Malcolm Marx
Gerhard Steenkamp
Vincent Koch
Salman Morath
RG Snyman
Marco van Staden
Grant Williams
Sacha Feinberg-Mangomezulu
Tv fanatic. Amateur food maven. Devoted webaholic. Travel lover. Entrepreneur. Evil writer. Beer guru.