Opportunity lost here. Absolutely wasteful team
Opportunity lost here. Absolutely wasteful team
Hahahaha….the genius. No matter Dave he followed your advice in 4 instances. Great to see Mostert back and Esterhozen on the bench. Still there are a few new names, our WC 2027 side might not be over 35 in age.
Useless Mostert will hopefully not play when it counts in the RC and EOYT when it will be Eben, RG, Lood and Cobus Wiese
Unless Wilco isn’t available for some reason, it seems Lucky just doesn’t rate the man….which seems odd. No forward in the URC has made a better case for Bok inclusion.
Wilco is in the squad - seems none of the Bulls other than Wessels on the bench have been included in the side following their URC final last Saturday
Jared Wright 9 hours ago
new springboks home and away kits with the 1995 heritage jersey in the centre
The 2025 Springboks kit has been unveiled with Nike and SA Rugby paying homage to the 1995 Rugby World Cup victory with a heritage jersey.
The newly designed playing kit and a retro jersey honouring the 1995 Rugby World Cup winners was revealed for the first time – 30 years to the day that Nelson Mandela first presented the Webb Ellis Cup to Springbok captain Francois Pienaar.
A statement from SA Rugby noted that the new team playing jersey incorporates elements of the King Protea in a striking collar design and features new front of jersey sponsors FNB, who have replaced MTN.
I hate big logos ... yuck
A rather mixed team - with fringe players being picked and some just around to fill the positions and very unlikely to even play for a time. Some are obvious last chances as preparation for the July tests and the RC.
Amongst those unlikely to feature again in 2025 are Du Preez. Mostert and Esterhuien.
As expected there some yongsters in the team - players like Van den Berg - who were the best SA scri=ummie in the URC this year - and Ntlabakanye both from the Lions as well as Van der Merwe, Wessels and Fouche , Unfortunately there are also players who are waste of space - namely Esterhuizen, Libbok, Reinach. Du Preez and Mostert, Of those Esterhuizen, Reinach and Mostert are way pas their "sell bye" dates
We will see what Sacha will do to opposition in the RC in particular, I would have liked to see other younger players in that team - but the inclusion of Kriel and De Allende confrms they are still Erasmus's first choice center pair It will tke a while to get the Bulls backline players in the Springbok team after they were ruined by the fact that some essential backline coaching will have to be deal with deficencies resulting from having to play Jakeball in the URC for the past six months, And then another chance for dead-head Estrhuizen is amazing as well,
..
I hate big logos ... yuck
Somehow the bills needs to be paid.
I hate big logos too, blob.
& this one's too blerrie big ...at least, chop down the tree .
It is big !
I’m not a fan of the new training tops at all !!
Baabaas are synonymous with playing attacking rugby, so what is the most attacking side we could select ignoring injuries
15 Fassi
14 Kolbe
13 Moodie
12 Willemse
11 Arendse
10 Sacha
9 Williams
1 Mchunu
2 Wessels
3 Thomas
4 Eben
5 RG
6 Kwagga
7 Roos
8 Hanekom
16 AH Venter 17 Ox 18 Nthlabakanye 19 Cobus Wiese 20 Manu Tsituka 21 vd Bergh 22 Libbok 23 David Kriel
I see Kolisi has been ruled out with a minor bump…..
Yes v Staaden in at 6 and Jessie Kriel captaining the side
It’s bucketing with rain in CT
AFP,13 h ago
Kriel has been part of two World Cup triumphs with the SpringboksDavid Rogers / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / Getty Images via AFP
Jesse Kriel will captain South Africa for the first time against the Barbarians after regular skipper Siya Kolisi withdrew because of injury on Friday.
Kriel, 31, made his debut for South Africa in 2015 and has played in 79 Tests, featuring in the Springboks' 2019 and 2023 World Cup triumphs.
"I'm excited and honoured," said the Yokohama centre before admitting to a touch of anxiety.
"Although I was a little nervous at one stage, I'm keen to go out there and lead the team.
"One of the big aspects of our team is that everyone takes ownership in their areas on the game, so this match won't be any different for me on Saturday.
"Fortunately, we have a lot of leaders in guys like Lood (de Jager), Malcolm (Marx), Damian (de Allende), Cheslin (Kolbe), and Kurt-Lee (Arendse), so having them in the team will make my job easier."
Saturday's match is a non-cap game against a Barbarians side, renowned for its running ethos, plucked largely from France's Top 14.
Kriel insisted, however, that they were taking the exhibition game as seriously as any international.
"We are certainly approaching this match as a Test and we have no doubt it will set the tone for the season ahead," he said.
Bulls flanker Marco van Staden has been drafted into the starting back row as a replacement for Kolisi for Saturday's meeting in Cape Town and will partner up with Vincent Tshituka and Jean-Luc du Preez.
Kolisi's injury was described as a "niggle" in SA Rugby's press statement and the two-time World Cup winning captain will hope to be back for the two-Test series against Italy, which starts in Pretoria on July 5.
The Springboks have a further match against Georgia in July before the opening match of the Rugby Championship against Australia in Johannesburg on August 16.
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Rugby UnionJesse KrielSiya KolisiSouth AfricaBarbariansSouth Africa
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Springbok team to face the Barbarians in Cape Town:
15 Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 11 caps, 35 points (7t)
14 Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Sungoliath) – 40 caps, 111 points (18t, 3c, 5p)
13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 79 caps, 90 points (18t)
12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 87 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 24 caps, 90 points (18t)
10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 8 caps, 52 points (14c, 8p)
9 Morne van den Berg (Emirates Lions) – 2 caps, 0 points
8 Jean-Luc du Preez (Sale Sharks) – 14 caps 10 points (2t)
7 Vincent Tshituka (Hollywoodbets Sharks) - uncapped
6 Siya Kolisi (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 92 caps, 60 points (12t)
5 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 66 caps, 25 points (5t)
4 Jean Kleyn (Munster) – 7 caps, 0 points
3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye (Emirates Lions) – uncapped
2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 76 caps, 105 points (21t)
1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 39 caps, 0 points
Replacements:
16 Marnus van der Merwe (Scarlets) - uncapped
17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 5 points (1t)
18 Neethling Fouche (DHL Stormers) - uncapped
19 Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 78 caps, 20 points (4t)
20 Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 51 caps, 45 points (9t)
21 Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 39 caps, 70 pts (14t)
22 Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers) – 19 caps, 98 pts (1t, 30c, 11p)
23 Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 19 caps, 0 points