International Rugby

Cardiff to Durban: Dramatic changes for Rassie’s Super Springboks

The depth of the Springboks is on another level with 10 starting changes for each Nations Championship match in 2026

Published

3 months ago

14th July 2026

Keo

CARDIFF, WALES - NOVEMBER 29: Jasper Wiese of South Africa scores his team's third try during the Quilter Nations Series 2025 rugby international match between Wales and South Africa at Principality Stadium on November 29, 2025 in Cardiff, Wales. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

The Super Springboks match 23 to play Wales in Durban on Saturday has just two players starting in the same position from the team that demolished Wales 73-0 in Cardiff last November.

Super Springboks

The Boks completed their 2025 season by inflicting the heaviest defeat Wales had suffered at home.

The depth of talent available to Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus is such that he has relied on just eight of the match 23 from 2025 to front Wales again in Saturday’s Nations Championship match.

Only Jasper Wiese (No 8) and Gerhard Steenekamp (1) start in the same position from the Cardiff triumph, while midfielder Damian de Allende moves from No 13 to No 12. They are the only three starters retained from Cardiff to Durban.

NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP STATS

Springboks v Wales 2025 vs Springboks v Wales 2026

Match 23 Comparison

Players retained in both match 23s

The eight players who appear in both match 23s are:

Damian Willemse
Damian de Allende
Gerhard Steenekamp
Wilco Louw
Jasper Wiese
Marco van Staden
Ben-Jason Dixon
Cobus Reinach

Eight players from the 2025 match 23 are also in the 2026 match 23

Players retained as starters

Three players start in both matches.

Player	2025	2026
Gerhard Steenekamp	Loosehead prop (1)	Loosehead prop (1)
Damian de Allende	Outside centre (13)	Inside centre (12)
Jasper Wiese	No 8	No 8

Starter to bench – 1

Damian Willemse (15 – 23)
Wilco Louw (3-18)

Bench to starter – 1

Cobus Reinach (22 – 9)

Bench to bench – 2

Ben-Jason Dixon (20 – 19)
Marco van Staden (21 – 20)

15 players from the Springboks match 23 v Wales in Cardiff in 2025 not involved in Springboks match 23 v Wales in Durban in 2026

No.	Player	2025 Role
14	Hooker	Starter
12	Esterhuizen	Starter
11	Moodie	Starter
10	Feinberg-Mngomezulu	Starter
9	Van der Berg	Starter
2	Grobbelaar	Starter
4	Kleyn	Starter
5	Nortje	Starter
6	Kolisi (capt)	Starter
7	Mostert	Starter
16	Mbonambi	Bench
17	Porthen	Bench
18	Ntlabakanye	Bench
19	Etzebeth	Bench
22	Smith	Bench

WIN DOUBLE TICKETS SPRINBOKS V WALES IN DURBAN

World Cup-winning All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, speaking on the Rugby Unity Podcast, said:

“The first thing you have to take away is they’re building some wonderful depth. They’re doing that deliberately. You look at the French team and you go, ‘Well, they’re doing the same thing’.

“I think back to when we tried to say we wanted a squad of two teams. Thirty players that you could pick and wouldn’t make any difference … that’s what’s happening with South Africa.

“Their mindset is ‘we don’t care who we pick, we’re good enough, we’ve got enough players”.

Springboks in Cardiff v Wales 2025: 15 D Willemse; 14 Hooker, 13 De Allende, 12 Esterhuizen, 10 Moodie; 10 Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Van der Berg; 1 Steenekamp, 2 Grobbelaar, 3 Louw, 4 Kleyn, 5 Nortje, 6 Kolisi (capt), 7 Mostert, 8 Wiese. Bench: 16 Mbonambi, 17 Porthen, 18 Ntlabakanye, 19 Etzebeth, 20 Van Staden, 21 Dixon, 22 Smith, Reinach. This is the match 23 to play Wales in Durban in 2026

Springboks in Durban v Wales 2026: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Jaco Williams, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Vusi Moyo, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (c), 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Carlü Sadie, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Damian Willemse.