Five-three Springbok bench named for England Test

Manie Libbok will call the shots on attack for the Springboks against England at Twickenham on Saturday (7.40pm start), while Willie le Roux will have to wait until next year to earn his 100th Test cap.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named a bold match-23 in London on Thursday, which showed 12 changes from the side that beat Scotland 32-15 at Murrayfield last Sunday.

Libbok will be partnered by another attacking force in Grant Williams at halfback, while the back-three of Aphelele Fassi, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse have been reinstated.

As expected, Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel are reunited at centre, and the regular loose trio of captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese are back in harness too.

But Erasmus did make two big calls in his tight five, opting to bring RG Snyman off the bench into the starting side at No.5 lock, and handing in-form Bulls powerhouse Wilco Louw the tighthead prop berth.

A welcome return for Wilco Louw as the #Springboks made 12 changes to their starting team to face England in London on Saturday 💚💛#ForeverGreenForeverGold

— Springboks (@Springboks) November 14, 2024

There is no place for veteran fullback Le Roux – who is on 98 caps – on the bench, despite the five-three split between forwards and backs, so even if he is involved in next weekend’s clash against Wales, he will end the year on 99 Tests.

Instead, Erasmus called on Cobus Reinach, Handré Pollard and Lukhanyo Am as backline cover, and interestingly, there is no specialist lock among the replacements, with Elrigh Louw and Kwagga Smith both loose forwards.

With Franco Mostert left out entirely, Du Toit is sure to move into the second row in the second half at Twickenham.

“The turnaround between the Scotland and England Tests is short, so we had to be smart in our selection to enable us to field a fresh squad, with only six days between two tough Test matches,” Erasmus said on Thursday.

“It obviously has a knock-on in effect in the sense that we’ve made 12 changes to the starting line-up, but we have been rotating our squad all season.

“Over and above that, most of these players know each other really well having played together for the last few seasons, as well as in the Rugby World Cup, the Incoming Series, and the Rugby Championship, so we are pleased with the quality of the team we’ve been able to name.

“England poses a completely different challenge to Scotland, and we selected our squad based on what we would like to do in the match, and also what we think will be best to counter the challenge England poses.

“Fortunately, we have quite a few players who can switch positions if necessary, so we feel we have adequate depth throughout the team, which allowed us to select this group of replacements.

“England come off two narrow defeats, but the quality of their performances was good in both matches, so we (are aware of the) size of the challenge.

“We lost narrowly to Ireland and France in back-to-back matches in 2022 and a year later were world champions, so we know we shouldn’t read anything into the last two results.”

Springbok Team

15 Aphelele Fassi 14 Cheslin Kolbe 13 Jesse Kriel 12 Damian de Allende 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse 10 Manie Libbok 9 Grant Williams 8 Jasper Wiese 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit 6 Siya Kolisi (captain) 5 RG Snyman 4 Eben Etzebeth 3 Wilco Louw 2 Bongi Mbonambi 1 Ox Nche.

Bench: 16 Malcolm Marx 17 Gerhard Steenekamp 18 Vincent Koch 19 Elrigh Louw 20 Kwagga Smith 21 Cobus Reinach 22 Handré Pollard 23 Lukhanyo Am.