Summer Series: Experienced South Africa line-up for first Test match with Ireland

The clash between the first and second teams in the World Rugby Ranking, South Africa and Ireland, is perhaps the most anticipated big match of the 2024 Summer Nations Series. In July, the Springboks and the Greens will face each other twice, and both times on South African soil.

The first battle between the two battleships will take place this weekend, to be precise on Saturday 6 July at 17:00, at the Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. For Ireland it will be the first commitment since the conclusion of the Six Nations 2024, while South Africa has already started to warm up the engines in the test match with Wales last 22 June.

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Unlike this last precedent, this time the South African coach Rassie Erasmus relies entirely on a very solidly experienced team. Of the 23 players selected, 20 are World Champion Springboks, including the entire starting XV.

Here then is a three-quarter line almost completely revised compared to the test match with Wales. Only scrum-half de Klerk and centre Kriel remain in the starting lineup, while the rest will feature the return of Pollard, Arendse, de Allende, Kolbe and le Roux.

Among the forwards there are some more confirmations: the Etzebeth-Mostert pairing remains solid in the second row, as are the prop Nche and the third rows du Toit and Smith. The latter, however, moves from flanker to number 8 to make room for the return of Kolisi, who takes over the captain’s armband from du Toit. In addition to him, the prop Malherbe and the hooker Mbonambi return from the first minute, forming a truly fearsome front row.

As is typical of Rassie Erasmus’ South Africa, great attention is paid to the scrum. On the bench, the coach will keep six forwards available (Marx, Steenekamp, ​​Koch, Moerat, Snyman, van Staden), with Williams and Feinberg-Mngomezulu (the only one among the debutants with Wales also present in this 23) to replace the three-quarters.

Summer Series 2024: South Africa’s experienced lineup for first test match with Ireland

15 – Willie le Roux (Vodacom Bulls) – 93 caps
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 31 caps
13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 67 caps
12 – Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 78 caps
11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 15 caps
10 – Handré Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 69 caps
9 – Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles) – 56 caps

8 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 41 caps
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) 78 caps
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92) – 83 caps
5 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 74 caps
4 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 120 caps
3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 70 caps
2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 69 caps
1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 28 caps

Available:
16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 65 caps
17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 1 cap
18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 50 caps
19 – Salmaan Mourat (DHL Stormers) – 4 caps
20 – RG Snyman (Leinster) – 34 caps
21 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 18 caps
22 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 9 caps
23 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 1 cap

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