Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth has been cleared to face New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday after completing all the training sessions this week and has been drafted onto the replacements bench for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship encounter, while Rassie Erasmus has released four players to their Carling Currie Cup teams to get some valuable game time this weekend.
Etzebeth, who was initially excluded from the Boks’ match-23 for the first of two Tests against their southern hemisphere arch-rivals due to an injury concern earlier in the week, replaces Marco van Staden on the bench, which offers the team specialist lock cover for the starting combination of Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje.
Should he get game time, the Test will mark Etzebeth’s 125th in the green and gold jersey, which will see him leapfrog Bryan Habana as the second-most capped Springbok of all time and take one step closer to Victor Matfield’s Springbok Test record of 127 caps.
“Our selection policy has always been that if a player does not train on a Monday he will not play on Saturday, but Eben has made it through training pain-free all week, so we had to make the tough call to name him in the squad at the expense of Marco,” said Erasmus.
“There were back-up options for us at lock in the initial squad, but with Eben on the bench it means we have another specialist in that position in the team.
“We are blessed to have an expanded squad of about 45 players who have all bought into our plans and who understand what’s best for the team, and it’s admirable how Marco accepted the news. It shows the quality of the player and person he is.”
Meanwhile, Erasmus released four players – Steven Kitshoff (prop), Manie Libbok (flyhalf), Canan Moodie and Makazole Mapimpi (both wings) – to their provincial unions on Wednesday afternoon to get game time in the Carling Currie Cup this weekend.
Revised Springbok team to face New Zealand in Johannesburg:
15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 6 caps, 15 points (3t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 35 caps, 96 points (15t, 3c, 5p)
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 73 caps, 80 points (16t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 82 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) - 19 caps, 85 points (17t)
10 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 6 caps, 33 points (12c, 3p)
9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 34 caps, 65 points (13t)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 27 caps, 5 points (1t)
7 – Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers) – 3 caps, 5 points (1t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92) – 86 caps, 55 points (11t)
5 – Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 2 caps, 0 points
4 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 81 caps, 45 points (9t)
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 73 caps, 5 points (1t)
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 72 caps, 70 points (14t)
1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 33 caps, 0 points
Replacements:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 69 caps, 95 points (19t)
17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 4 caps, 0 points
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 54 caps, 0 points
19 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 124 caps, 30 points (6t)
20 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 6 caps, 0 points
21 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 45 caps, 40 points (8t)
22 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 13 caps, 10 points (2t)
23 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 73 caps, 734 points (7t, 99c, 162p, 5dg)