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Springboks team: Winners and losers as ‘resilient’ duo celebrate milestones while Rassie Erasmus axes ‘misfiring’ Bomb Squad Following the announcement of Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks team for the second Test match against the All Blacks, here are our winners and losers from his selections. Winners Pieter-Steph du Toit For a second week in a row, the Springboks will add a new centurion to their history books with Pieter-Steph du Toit raising the bat in Cape Town after Damian de Allende did so in Johannesburg. It’s a particularly special occasion for Du Toit, who gets to celebrate the milestone at his home stadium in the Mother City against South Africa’s fiercest rivals. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on a truly remarkable career jam-packed with incredible highs and crushing lows. Du Toit debuted for the Springboks all the way back in 2013 under Heyneke Meyer, initially starting his career as a lock who could play in the back row. He featured twice for the Boks in his debut season but was denied the opportunity to add to his cap tally in 2014, sustaining the first of a plethora of long-term injuries throughout his career. During the 2015 World Cup, the forward was the subject of major criticism, as many felt that he should not play flank for the Springboks – the position he started in the defeat to Japan during the pool stages but fast-forward 11 years, and he is the standard-bearer for the blindside flanker position in the modern game. This despite the insane amount of adversity he has faced, particularly on the injury front – none more so than the injury that almost led to his leg being amputated in 2020. Du Toit suffered a serious leg injury that developed into acute compartment syndrome – an extremely rare condition with the Bok becoming just the 44th medically recorded case – while playing for the Stormers six years ago. That injury left Du Toit hospitalised, with the forward lying with an open wound in his thigh for 12 days. His long list of injuries includes surgery on both ankles, a cracked sternum and two anterior cruciate ligament injuries, the second of which required his father to donate a piece of his own hamstring tendon so he could play again. All these setbacks would be too much for many players to handle, but not Du Toit, who has not only been the benchmark for how the modern blindside flanker should play but also has a trophy cabinet that includes two World Cup trophies, two World Rugby Player of the Year Awards, three Rugby Championships and a British and Irish Lions Series win. There is no doubt about it, Du Toit is comfortably among the greatest players South Africa has ever produced. Deon Fourie On the topic of remarkable careers filled with adversity, Deon Fourie marks his return to the international stage after a three-year hiatus. The 2023 World Cup winner became the oldest-ever Springbok debutant when he came off the bench against Wales in Bloemfontein in 2022, and on Saturday, he will become the oldest Springbok player to play in a Test match at 39 years old. He will surpass Victor Matfield and Schalk Brits, who were 38 years old in their last Test matches, with Fourie hailing from the same school as the former – Hoërskool Pietersburg. It’s another tale of incredible resilience as the 39-year-old not only defied the odds to make his debut so late in his career after being told he was too small to be a Springboks forward, but has also endured a torrid run of injuries over the past three years to earn his 14th Test cap. He suffered a major ACL injury more than two years ago, and when he regained his fitness, he managed just four matches before picking up an ankle issue and then suffered a serious bicep injury in his first game back. He recovered to play six times for the Stormers before his next setback, ligament damage which he sustained against Ulster. But again, Fourie relented and was fit to face the All Blacks in their opening tour game against the Stormers – a match where he was comfortably the best player for the hosts. Now, he will look to add another chapter to his incredible story as he aims to replicate his heroic efforts from the 2023 World Cup final – where he played 77 minutes at hooker after Bongi Mbonambi’s injury – and do so against the same opposition. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu It’s certainly fair to say that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is a winner for retaining a place in the matchday 23, although he does drop to the bench. The talented playmaker has produced two underwhelming performances since his return from an injury he sustained in the United Rugby Championship quarter-finals. Things certainly did not go swimmingly for him at Ellis Park in the first Test but in his defence, there was a ton of changes to the backline due to in-game injuries. Still, he was unable to manage the Springboks’ attack despite the forward pack dominating much of the first half. Last weekend was the first time that Feinberg-Mngomezulu had lost a Test match in which he started at fly-half and it’s crystal clear that the Bok coaching team values his talents and ability. His inclusion over Manie Libbok is also possible due to his ability to cover multiple positions. Andre Esterhuizen’s inclusion on the bench means that the Boks have a 5-3/6-2 hybrid split, but Erasmus will be wanting to use him in the forward pack, making it more of a 6-2 bench. Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s ability to play fly-half, centre and full-back then was possibly the deciding factor. Handre Pollard A deja-vu selection ploy as Erasmus pushes on Handre Pollard’s button in Cape Town after a defeat at Ellis Park. The Springboks collapsed to a 38-22 loss to Australia in Johannesburg last year and the following week, the double World Cup-winning playmaker was parachuted into the run-on team for the clash in the Mother City. Fast-forward 12 months and the Bok head coach has repeated the selection, with Pollard entrusted to run the show from fly-half and hopefully level the series. Time and time again throughout his career, Pollard has pitched up in the clutch for the Springboks, and it’s clear that the coaching team is hoping for more of the same. The new Bomb Squad Erasmus has stuck with much of the same starters who took to the pitch at Ellis Park and perhaps rightly so as the biggest issue was how the team finished the game, not how they started it. Two of the changes in the starting XV are enforced with Cheslin Kolbe and Grant Williams suffering ‘niggles’ that have ruled them out of contention. Siya Kolisi was always going to come back into the mix when fit and we will only really have confirmation of that later in the week, making the selection of Pollard over Feinberg-Mngomezulu the only tactical decision. However, Erasmus has made significant changes on the bench, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Zach Porthen, Cobus Wiese, Manie Libbok and Marco van Staden dropped from the team in the Bomb Squad overhaul. Fourie, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Cameron Hanekom, Morne van den Berg and Feinberg-Mngomezulu therefore join Gerhard Steenekamp and Andre Esterhuizen, who are the only surviving members of the Bomb Squad in Joburg. On the whole, the replacement bench looks far more balanced and potent this week compared to last and with it being more experienced too, it should be more impactful. It’s also notable that Hanekom has been listed on the bench and not bracketed with Paul de Villiers, which suggests that regardless of Kolisi’s fitness, the Bulls man will feature against the All Blacks. A rising star in South Africa who has been tipped for a bright future on the international stage, Hanekom showed against Argentina that he can mix it with the big boys at the highest level, and he now gets to prove it against the number-one ranked team in the world. Meanwhile, Du Toit is entrusted off the bench after puzzlingly being left out of the squad for the meeting in Johannesburg. Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust. Ox Nche “We are equally proud of Ox for the player and team man he has grown into, and to see him reach 50 Test caps is fantastic,” Erasmus said in the statement confirming his team selection, with Nche also celebrating a personal milestone this weekend. The cake-loving loosehead prop has become a cornerstone of the Springboks scrum since 2021, earning his second cap against Georgia before the British and Irish Lions series, having debuted in Erasmus’ first game as head coach against Wales three years prior. Over the past five years, there perhaps hasn’t been a loosehead prop as destructive as Nche has been in the scrum, with the 31-year-old also ticking all the boxes of a modern-day prop. He also broke new ground last year, becoming the first prop to be nominated for the World Rugby Player of the Year. Springboks: SEVEN reasons and a ‘damning statistic’ behind their loss to the All Blacks Losers Grant Williams and Cheslin Kolbe A brutal double blow for the Springboks with both Grant Williams and Cheslin Kolbe ‘suffering niggles last weekend’, according to Erasmus. There is no doubt that Kolbe would have been in the starting XV again this weekend had he not suffered the setback, with the winger becoming even more important to the Boks because of his goal-kicking, while Erasmus has made no secret of the fact that Williams and Reinach are the team’s first-choice scrum-halves. Their setbacks provide opportunities for Ethan Hooker and Morne van den Berg this weekend as the head coach’s prediction that players will drop off as the series progresses comes true. The duo not only provide an X-factor for the men in Green and Gold but are certainly among the best players in their positions in the world. Zachary Porthen and Jan-Hendrik Wessels The Springboks’ scrum dominance slipped at Ellis Park when Erasmus started to ring the changes, and only Steenekamp has managed to cling onto a replacement front row role. Meanwhile, Zachary Porthen and Jan-Hendrik Wessels are axed in favour of Thomas du Toit and Fourie, respectively. The duo shouldn’t be overly concerned about their dropping as they are both still incredibly young for international front rowers and weren’t aided by the coaching team’s replacement ploys. Cobus Wiese After starring in the July Nations Championship matches, Cobus Wiese was handed the opportunity to face the All Blacks for the first time in his career. Unfortunately, he was held back until the final 10 minutes of the match, when he eventually replaced Eben Etzebeth. Wiese has all the tools to be a success at the highest level, but he too has paid the price for the misfiring Bomb Squad, with the vastly more experienced De Jager recalled instead. Manie Libbok Arguably the biggest losers as Manie Libbok tried his best to ready the ship in Johannesburg but had so much counting against him. The backline underwent a reshuffle when he entered the fray, and South Africa were 10 points behind on the scoreboard too. Libbok was given a nigh-on impossible task of inspiring the comeback but, frankly, had too much to do in the end, particularly when both Marco van Staden and Cobus Reinach were yellow-carded.