Rassie picks his Boks 23 to play England – who would you chose?

Rassie Erasmus on Monday afternoon announces his Boks match 23 to play in the Nations Championship opener against England. Who would you pick?

Rassie

This is my Sunday Times Keo Uncut column on who I think will be there but be sure it won’t be the 23 that will be announced at 12.45 (SA time).

Who would you pick?

What is the Nations Championship – and why should it matter

This is what I wrote in the Sunday Times.

Erasmus usually announces his Springboks match 23 on a Tuesday, which eliminates early week player selection speculation. Occasionally, he has embraced the daily discussion and enjoyed the mind games of waiting until Thursday.

Erasmus’s Boks open their Nations Championship league challenge against England at Ellis Park on 4^thJuly in what will be the toughest of their three July Test matches in South Africa.

Erasmus has insisted he will use the Nations Championship to prepare for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour, when the Springboks play four successive Tests against the All Blacks. The first three of those Tests will be in South Africa and the fourth in Baltimore, USA.

Every South African rugby supporter loves to play selector and the most discussed and debated selection is always the first one of the season.

On the surface, the match 23 would seem predictable, given the respective combinations and qualities of the individuals, but nothing is predictable when it comes to Erasmus.

If next Saturday was the final of the Nations Championship, I’d expect the match 23 to look something like this: Damian Willemse, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Edwill van der Merwe, Manie Libbok, Grant Williams, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth, Thomas du Toit, Johan Grobbelaar and Ox Nche: Substitutes: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wilco Louw, Cameron Hanekom, Cobus Wiese, Paul de Villiers, Embrose Papier and Andre Ezterhuizen.

This 23 has an integration of Bulls players because they joined the Boks training camp late after completing their United Rugby Championship commitments.

It may be that Erasmus rewards those who prepared for and played in the 80-31 demolition of the Barbarians a week ago.

I am assuming hooker and 2025 World Player of the Year Malcolm Marx is unavailable due to injury. If not, he naturally starts in the No 2 jersey.

The depth available to Erasmus is obvious in his choices and it is depth he and Jacques Nienaber (when head coach of the 2023 World Cup-winning campaign) have built since 2018.

Thomas du Toit was outstanding for Bath at tighthead, whether starting or making an impact. To have him and Wilco Louw as the two tighthead options is a powerful statement. Then there is Carlu Sadie, who started all eight matches at tighthead for Bordeaux en-route to winning the Investec Champions Cup title.

The loosehead stocks are as big a statement and so too are the loose-forwards.

Lock is the one area where the depth is being tested because of injuries, but when the starting options are the most capped Springbok in history, Eben Etzebeth and a 150-appearance Bulls leader in Ruan Nortje, no coach can complain.

The starting loose-trio against the Barbarians is the obvious starters against England in captain Kolisi, the incomparable Du Toit and the powerhouse Wiese at No 8.

The intrigue is in who backs them up. (Paul) de Villiers and Marco van Staden will be competing for one place, as support to Kolisi, (Cobus) Wiese, BJ Dixon and Vincent Tshituka offer lock/flank options and it is a straight shoot-out between Evan Roos and Cameron Hanekom at No 8.

In the backline, it is one of Kurt-Lee Arendse or Van der Merwe on the wing. Canan Moodie offers versatility at 13 and on either wing and veteran double World Cup winner Handre Pollard will never be far away from the match 23.

I expect every player selected in the Nations Championship squad to play in the three Test matches before Erasmus confirms the playing squad for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.

What makes the England match 23 selection interesting is whether Erasmus’s approach is to pick on historical form to get the one-off win or to treat the match as part of a bigger plan leading up to the All Blacks series.

Junior Springboks youngsters Riley Norton and Vusi Moyo played against the Barbarians and were retained for the Nations Championship. Norton started at lock and played the entire 82 minutes. Moyo played the final 23 minutes at No 10.

You would not expect them to play England but with Erasmus expect the unexpected.