{"id":15768,"date":"2025-11-21T08:14:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T06:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/springboks-back-to-full-strength-for-ireland-clash\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:27:52","slug":"springboks-back-to-full-strength-for-ireland-clash","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/springboks-back-to-full-strength-for-ireland-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Springboks back to full strength for Ireland clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"tw-mb-rcp-60\">South Africa have returned to a full-strength lineup for Saturday\u2019s clash against Ireland, with coach Rassie Erasmus again making 11 changes to their starting team.<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"mb20\">\n<div data-qa-component=\"story-content-collapsable\">\n<div class=\"mh-auto overflow-hidden mh-none--print\" data-qa-component=\"collapsable-content\">\n<div class=\"font-knowledge regular line-height-1-5 text-story color-black f6 pt16 pb20 border-bottom border-gray-22 story-copy\" dir=\"auto\" data-qa-component=\"item-story\" data-rc-highlight=\"story\">\n<p>They fielded several second-choice players in last Saturday\u2019s\u00a032-14 win over Italy\u00a0in Turin, but has gone back to the nucleus of the side that\u00a0beat France 32-17\u00a0in Paris a week before that.<\/p>\n<p>Prop Boan Venter starts for a third successive test, although he was taken off after 31 minutes against France and then 24 minutes against Italy, while at fullback Damian Willemse also plays his third game in a row.<\/p>\n<p>Captain Siya Kolisi is retained from last week\u2019s win, while Canan Moodie switches from centre to right wing to allow a return for the regular midfield pairing of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel.<\/p>\n<p>Erasmus told a press conference on Thursday he had toyed with a possible 7-1 split between forwards and backs on the bench, though hybrid player Andre Esterhuizen can come on as a flanker or centre, but in the end had decided against it.<\/p>\n<p>Locks Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert were not considered for selection due to their disciplinary appeals and hearings this week to avoid the outcomes of those decisions affecting on the team\u2019s preparations for the match, Erasmus said.<\/p>\n<p>Mostert had his red card against Italy rescinded by an independent disciplinary committee, making him available for the clash. South Africa have appealed De Jager\u2019s four-game suspension after he was sent off for a high tackle on France full-back Thomas Ramos in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe majority of this team were rested last week to ensure that they recover from the physically taxing match against France, and it was always our plan to name an experienced outfit against Ireland,\u201d Erasmus added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of these players have faced Ireland, so they understand the magnitude of this challenge and what to expect from the hosts. So, we believe this is the right group of players for this match.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Irish-based lock RG Snyman will win a 50th cap if he comes off the bench for the test.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a great player and team man, and had it not been for injuries along the way he would have probably earned 50 caps a while ago. He deserves this achievement and it speaks volumes about the quality of the player he is,\u201d the coach added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Team:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>15-Damian Willemse, 14-Canan Moodie, 13-Jesse Kriel, 12-Damian de Allende, 11-Cheslin Kolbe, 10-Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9-Cobus Reinach, 8-Jasper Wiese, 7-Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6-Siya Kolisi (captain), 5-Ruan Nortje, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 3-Thomas du Toit, 2-Malcolm Marx, 1-Boan Venter<\/p>\n<p>Replacements: 16-Johan Grobbelaar, 17-Gerhard Steenekamp, 18-Wilco Louw, 19-RG Snyman, 20-Kwagga Smith, 21-Andre Esterhuizen, 22-Grant Williams, 23-Manie Libbok<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"main-leaderboard\" data-google-query-id=\"CLn4iMrkgpEDFW9JHQkdVHwaQA\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15520,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-15768","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Captain Siya Kolisi is retained from last week\u2019s win, while Canan Moodie switches from centre to right wing.","published_date":null,"news_description":"Captain Siya Kolisi is retained from last week\u2019s win, while Canan Moodie switches from centre to right wing.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19867,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/15768\/revisions\/19867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=15768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}