Springboks eager to set tone for season against Italy
The Springboks are eager to officially get their 2025 international season off to a good start and set a tone that they can carry into the rest of their campaign, starting with Italy at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.
Coach Rassie Erasmus named a strong team to face the Italians in their first of two matches, the second in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) next weekend, with some heavy hitters returning the side, from the one that faced the Barbarians in a non-Test season opener in Cape Town.
Eben Etzebeth links up with Lood de Jager in the second row for the first time in over two years, replacing the injured Jean Kleyn, while Handre Polllard comes in at flyhalf for Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who drops out the match 23.
Damian Willemse returns at fullback for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup final, Wilco Louw slots in at tighthead prop and Jasper Wiese at eighthman, for Aphelele Fassi, Asenathi Ntlabakanye and Jean-Luc du Preez respectively, who drop out the 23, with them the major changes in the team.
Jesse Kriel retains the captaincy from the BaaBaas match, officially becoming the 67th captain of the Springboks, Vincent Tshituka holds on to the seven jersey to make his official debut, and Willie le Roux will make his 99th appearance when he comes off the bench.
Settled the squad
Erasmus explained that naming a strong team was to get themselves off on the right foot, and to settle the squad.
'It's the first Test. Last weekend was a Barbarians match and we would like to set the tone (for the season). Italy have a few new guys, who are a bit unknown to us. We obviously can analyse them from the Six Nations and what they did last year,' said Erasmus.
'But with a few new faces we aren't exactly sure what they will dish up. So to have a good and steady start is important for us.
'We also gave a few players a go last week and hopefully we can do that again next week (in Gqeberha) and against Georgia as well. So this selection was just to steady the boat for the first Test match.'
Regular captain Siya Kolisi, who was named to start against the BaaBaas before pulling out of the game with a stiff neck, has again been left out this week after picking up another niggle.
'He had a stiff neck and now a bit of an Achilles (niggle), it's not a strain, he's just really stiff there so we just want to make sure (he is fully recovered),' said Erasmus.
'But with all the players, we aren't planning for any of them to play more than eight or nine matches this year. So we want to rather make sure that his Achilles is 100% ready. But it isn't serious, the scan showed it was all clear and we are just being careful with him.'
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