Monday afternoon saw the 31-man Springboks squad named ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup taking place in Japan. The Springboks head into this year’s prestigious event high in confidence at the back of a 2019 Rugby Championship title win.
The 2019 championship win underlies the progress Rassie Erasmus has made since the disappointing 2015 Rugby World Cup outing the Springboks had.
Key Players
Siya Kholisi will be instrumental to Erasmus and the Springboks in Japan alongside hooker Malcom Marx in the forward positions. Willie le Roux’s playmaking skills will come in handy while Faf de Klerk will inject much needed energy at nine.
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Aphiwe Dyantyi has been omitted from the squad travelling to Japan after testing positive for a banned substance. Warren Whitely will miss the squad due to injury issues.
The squad announced includes three players who will be playing in their third World Cup: Frans Steyn, Tendai Mtawarira and Frans Louw.
2019 Springboks Squad
Rassie Erasmus has selected a record 19 black players in his squad, a strong indication of his desire to hasten South Africa’s racial transformation.
At the squad announcement, Rassie Erasmus expressed his satisfaction in his selection saying, “We have been developing this squad since the start of last season and in the 31 we have a good balance of established experience and some exciting youth.”
“We’ve been lucky in achieving most of our goals this season – we’ve been able to give everyone in the squad some good game time as well as develop combinations with squad rotation and not lose momentum as we go to the World Cup.”
Backs (13): Elton Jantjies, Willie le Roux, S’bu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am, Jesse Kriel, Frans Steyn, Handre Pollard, Cheslin Kolbe, Faf de Klerk, Makazole Mapimpi, Herschel Jantjies, Cobus Reinach, Damian de Allende.
Forwards (18): Pieter-Steph du Toit, Duane Vermeulen, Siya Kolisi (capt), Francois Louw, Rynhardt Elstadt, Kwagga Smith, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, RG Snyman, Bongi Mbonambi, Malcolm Marx, Schalk Brits, Tendai Mtawarira, Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Trevor Nyakane and Vincent Koch.
World Cup Fixtures
The Springboks face bitter rivals New Zealand in their World Cup opened on the 21st of September at the International Stadium Yokohama. On the September 28, Namibia lock horns with South Africa followed by a clash with Italy on Friday, 4 October.
South Africa rounds off their Pool B games with a match against Canada at the Kobe Masaki Stadium. Back the Boys as they tackle the worlds best at the
2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
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