By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named an experienced team to take on England in their Nations Championship opener at Ellis Park on Saturday, 04 July 2026.
Manie Libbok will start in place of the injured Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at fly-half. Libbok sees off competition from Handre Pollard, who started the Boks’ Rugby World Cup final wins in 2019 and 2023, to take the 10 shirt in a formidable side.
Libbok’s inclusion is one of four changes to the South Africa side that beat Ireland 24-13 in November in their most recent full-strength run-out.
Grant Williams comes in at scrum-half, while Kurt-Lee Arendse, another dangerous runner, is back on the wing.
Ox Nche is at loosehead with Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit, who is on his way to the Sharks from Bath this summer, completing the front row.
Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit are also part of an experienced pack.
Erasmus has named a more conventional set of replacements, with five specialist forwards rather than the seven he has experimented with in the past, former Harlequins centre Andre Esterhuizen has been deployed as a flanker off the bench in the past.
Cheslin Kolbe and Damian Willemse will both win their 50th caps as part of the starting line-up.
“England are a quality outfit, and we are expecting them to give everything they have in this match, so it was important to select a squad with experience combined with a few younger players, who have proved that they have what it takes to perform at this level,” Erasmus said.
“The players have worked very hard at training, and they know what it takes to perform against a side of this calibre with a good coaching team, so we hope they can transfer that effort onto the field on Saturday.”
Erasmus expects England to provide a stern examination on Saturday.
“England are a settled team, they come off a Six Nations campaign earlier in the season and, similarly to us, they will also want to have a good start to this exciting new competition, so we are expecting it to be a bruising encounter.”
The Bok coach also paid tribute to Kolbe and Willemse ahead of their milestone appearances.
“They have both been stalwarts for us over the years, and as a team we would like to make it a memorable day for them,” he said.
“It’s not every day you have two players playing their 50th Test, so that will certainly add to our motivation this week.”
Springboks Squad – 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nché.
Bench: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Zach Porthen, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 André Esterhuizen, 23 Canan Moodie.