INTERNATIONAL

50th test cap for Kwagga as Springboks name squad for Scotland test

By Agencies

Posted on November 8, 2024

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 25: Luke Jacobson of the All Blacks is tackled during the Rugby Championship match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the South African Springboks at QCB Stadium on September 25, 2021 in Townsville, Australia. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

Springbok loose forward Kwagga Smith will earn his 50th Test cap on Sunday when the Springboks line up against Scotland at Murrayfield in their opening Castle Lager Outgoing Tour clash.

Locks Franco Mostert and RG Snyman return to the green and gold jumper after long spells on the sidelines due to injury in a strong team named by national coach Rassie Erasmus, who named Eben Etzebeth as captain with Siya Kolisi starting on the bench.

The 31-year-old Smith, who made his Springbok debut against Wales in Washington in 2018 and went on to win two Rugby World Cup winner’s medals, will start at No 8 as he celebrates this significant career milestone.

Mostert returns to the team for the first time since recovering from the broken leg he suffered against Ireland in the Castle Lager Incoming Series and Snyman is fully fit after a foot injury sustained in Australia in the build-up to the first Test against the Wallabies in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, which ruled him out of the team’s triumphant campaign.

Erasmus opted for a split of seven forwards and one back on the replacements’ bench and made 11 changes to the starting team that defeated Argentina in their closing Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash in Nelspruit in September. Fourteen players in the match-day squad featured in the match against the Pumas.

There are 12 survivors in the 23 from the squad that last faced Scotland (in the pool stages of last year’s Rugby World Cup) – Mostert, Snyman, Etzebeth (lock), Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi (both hookers), Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Marco van Staden (all flankers), Jasper Wiese (No 8), Ox Nche (prop), Grant Williams (utility back) and Willie le Roux (fullback).

Smith starts his 50th match in a loose trio with Elrigh Louw and Van Staden, while Mostert joins forces with Etzebeth, SA’s most capped player of all time, in the engine room, where he will extend his record to 129 Test matches.

The team features a completely new backline to the triumphant Castle Lager Rugby Championship match-day team in Nelspruit, with the only back retaining his place in the starting team being scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse.

Veteran fullback Willie le Roux will take one more step toward reaching the exclusive group of Springbok centurions when he runs on at fullback in what will be his 98th Test match, while Makazole Mapimpi and Canan Moodie have been named as the wings, outside the midfield duo of Andre Esterhuizen and Lukhanyo Am.

Hendrikse, meanwhile, will partner with the experienced Handre Pollard in an exciting halfback pairing.

Erasmus loaded his bench with experience with the seven forwards being the front row of Marx, Vincent Koch and Gerhard Steenekamp, with Snyman providing lock cover and Kolisi, Du Toit and Wiese set to give the team a boost at loose forward.