By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Jesse Kriel will captain the Springboks in Saturday’s season-opening match against the Barbarians in Cape Town, with kickoff at 5.10pm.
Regular skipper Siya Kolisi has been ruled out of the non-cap match through injury, with Marco van Staden coming straight into the starting lineup. The rest of the match 23 is unchanged.
This will be the first time Kriel captains the Boks.
Kriel made his debut for the Boks in 2015 and has played 79 Tests so far, including winning the World Cup in 2019 and 2023. He also featured at the global showpieces in 2015 and 2019.
The Barbarians team will be led by former Ireland great Peter O’Mahony. The side includes several former and current All Blacks, including Sam Cane and Mark Tele’a.
SPRINGBOKS – 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Bench: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Andre Esterhuizen.