Rassie has made wholesale changes for the test against Italy. Ethan Hooker will feature at 12 next to Canan Moodie. Handre Pollard and Morne van den Berg will get a start after carrying tackle bags for quite some time. Marco van Staden will start at 8 and act as reserve hooker. Zachary Porthen gets another start for the Boks with the big guns Steenekamp and Louw providing cover on the bench. Andre Esterhuizen has again been selected in his hybrid role.
(more…)This is the statement from the Shark on John Plumtree’s future at the franchise:
(more…)Jaden Hendrikse will play for the Sharks a week after helping dismantling the Pumas in probably his best game in quite a while. Phepsi Buthelezi also makes a return from injury on the bench. Old men Cameron Wright and Lionel Cronje have been recalled to the bench the assist the Sharks to close out the game.
(more…)Aphelele Fassi has kept the 15 jersey while Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has also been retained at flyhalf. The Boks have a bit of a lock crisis – so Ruan Nortje will partner PSDT with no recognized lock on the bench. Jasper Wiese will get another chance at number 8. Eben Etzenbeth has been cleared to play and will replace Marco van Staden on the bench
(more…)Coach JPP has made a few changes to the starting team with a new starting front row of Dian Bleurer, Dan Jooste and Kabous Bezuidenhout. Alwayno Visagie comes back into the team at 12 in place of Jurenzo Julius.
(more…)Plum had made two changes to the starting team – Werner Kok is back at wing and Le Roux Roets starts in the 5 jersey. It should make any front row happy knowing that Etzebeth and Roets are providing the go forward behind them.
(more…)The bad news is that Bongi Mbonambi is expected to be out for 6 months and Vincent Koch for around 3 months. The only other two Boks what will bolster the pack at some point will be Ox Nche and Eben Etzebeth. The remaining Boks that can add zip to the back line is Jaden Hendrikse, Grant Williams and Makazole Mapimpi. That is the makeup of the available cavalry unfortunately. There are a number of players out injured that can certainly add value to the squad.
(more…)Manie Libbok has been paired with Cobus Reinach in Sunday’s quarter final. They have also gone with a 5-3 split on the bench with Faf de Klerk, Handre Pollard and Willie le Roux on the bench.
Duane Vermelen has been selected at 8 and together with Siya Kolisi and PSDT will have to keep a very good and physical French back row in check.
(more…)Siya Kolisi, Jaden Hendrikse and Ox Nche (from the bench) will play their first game for the Boks in 2023 in the warmup against Wales. RG Snyman will be running the line out partnered by the hard working Jean Kleyn. Siya will be joined by PSDT and Jasper Wiese in the back row.
(more…)Coach Rienaber has selected Malcolm Marx to start with the out of sorts Bongi Mbonambi set to make an impact from the bench. However he has left RG Snyman on the bench with Marvin Orie (who played pretty well against the Ozzies but not in the same league) getting another start. Trevor Nyakane will get a chance later in the game to make his case to be the utility prop in the squad.
Manie Libbok is back at 10 (just much more comfortable than Damian Willemse) and is partnered by Grant Williams (really stoked for Grant as it means his chances of making the World Cup squad is looking better by the day).
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