Any Springboks match 23 is stronger because of Malcolm Marx, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Grant Williams, Ethan Hooker, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Cobus Reinach. These formidable players are currently injured and unlikely to play in the opening month of the Nations Championship this month.
“The Boks in injury crisis” was a common theme on social media platforms this week, but there’s no crisis.
Sure, there is a shift in match 23 potency, but national coach Rassie Erasmus will be able to select a 23 the envy of every other country in the international season’s opening Test against England in less than a month.
As just one match 23 option, to illustrate the point, Erasmus could pick the following (15-9, 1-8 and 16-23): Damian Willemse, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Handre Pollard, Embrose Papier, Jasper Wiese, Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi, Ruan Nortje, Lood de Jager, Wilco Louw, Johann Grobbelaar, Ox Nche: Super Subs: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, Thomas du Toit, Jean Kleyn, Cameron Hanekom, Andre Esterhuizen, Faf de Klerk, Manie Libbok.
Of that 23, 15 have won a World Cup title. Of that starting XV, 10 have started in a winning World Cup final.
Every one of those 23 has played for the Springboks.
Fantastic Test players
Then you consider the injured Boks, which edges closer to 15 than 10 and who I did not include in my illustrated match 23, and what stands out is just how many fantastic Test players are still standing.
Erasmus has been brilliant in merging the best overseas-based South African players with the elite playing for the four South African United Rugby Championship club teams.
He has also mastered the balancing act of match 23 rotation without compromising results.
Erasmus’s Boks last season won 11 from 13 Tests and 50-plus players were used to keep the Boks No 1 in the world rankings, win a Rugby Championship title for the second successive year, and finish the season with five successive wins on their Northern Hemisphere tour.
South Africa beat France and Ireland last November and famously inflicted the biggest defeat on the All Blacks in New Zealand when winning 43-10 in Wellington.
An example of how Erasmus balances his selections is in the match 23s and starting XVs that played the final two matches of 2025 against Ireland in Dublin and Wales in Cardiff.
The Boks beat Ireland 24-13 and crushed Wales 73-0.
Players involved in both match 23s
Started both Tests
- Ruan Nortje
- Siya Kolisi
- Jasper Wiese
- Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
- Canan Moodie
- Damian de Allende
- Damian Willemse
Started Ireland, bench Wales
- Eben Etzebeth
Bench Ireland, started Wales
- Gerhard Steenekamp
- Wilco Louw
- Andre Esterhuizen
Bench in both
- Bongi Mbonambi
- Marco van Staden
- Cobus Reinach
Total players involved in both matchday 23s (14)
- Eben Etzebeth
- Ruan Nortje
- Siya Kolisi
- Jasper Wiese
- Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
- Canan Moodie
- Damian de Allende
- Damian Willemse
- Gerhard Steenekamp
- Wilco Louw
- Andre Esterhuizen
- Bongi Mbonambi
- Marco van Staden
- Cobus Reinach
Players who played Ireland but were not in the Wales 23
Starters
- Boan Venter
- Malcolm Marx
- Thomas du Toit
- Pieter-Steph du Toit
- Grant Williams
- Kurt-Lee Arendse
- Jesse Kriel
Replacements
- RG Snyman
- Manie Libbok
Total absent from Wales after Ireland: 9 players who played Wales but were not in the Ireland 23
Starters
- Johan Grobbelaar
- Jean Kleyn
- Franco Mostert
- Morne van den Berg
- Ethan Hooker
Replacements
- Zach Porthen
- Asenathi Ntlabakanye
- Ben-Jason Dixon
- Kwagga Smith
No matter the circumstances, Erasmus leans heavily on available combinations that are familiar to each other. His front row changes are not mix-and-match but combination-influenced. Equally, his half-backs and back three.
Sharks captain Andre Esterhuizen, in his hybrid role of being able to play in the midfield and loose forwards, has given Erasmus a 24th selection and made for a more explosive substitute’s bench.
Erasmus is very strategic in never compromising on experience and leadership, and you won’t find a youngster or inexperienced internationals being grouped together. There is always the protection of hardened veterans on the inside and outside of such players.
Kolisi remains integral to this leadership, as do utility forward Mostert and lock De Jager.
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