Springboks confirm which players were sent home

As the Springboks prepare for their final Test of the year against Wales this Saturday, coach Rassie Erasmus also revealed that four players who were not included in the matchday squad would return home on Wednesday to spend time with their families before returning to their respective clubs and franchises.

Utility forward Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is nursing a shoulder niggle, returned home on Monday, while the other four players returning home are:

• Kwagga Smith (loose forward)
• Lukhanyo Am (centre)
• Andre Esterhuizen (centre)
• Makazole Mapimpi (wing)

“We gave a few players who are not playing the option to remain in camp or return home to spend quality time with their families, while at the same time ensuring that we have enough depth in the squad to cover all the positions in case we suffer injuries before the match,” said Erasmus.

“So, we are confident that we all well covered in the event that anything should happen before the game.”

Meanwhile, Erasmus has opted to rest prop Ox Nche for Saturday’s Test against Wales in Cardiff, which will see a front-row reshuffle with Wilco Louw returning to the starting team at tighthead prop, while Thomas du Toit will move to loosehead.

Springboks v Wales teams and match information

South Africa (updated): 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Thomas du Toit.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 RG Snyman, 21 Cameron Hanekom, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Handre Pollard.

Wales: 15 Blair Murray; 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Max Llewellyn, 12 Ben Thomas, 11 Rio Dyer; 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Ellis Bevan; 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Jac Morgan, 6 James Botham; 5 Will Rowlands, 4 Christ Tshiunza; 3 Gareth Thomas, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Archie Griffin.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Freddie Thomas, 20 Tommy Reffell, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Eddie James, 23 Josh Hathaway.

Date: Saturday, November 23
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 17.40 (19.40 SA time; 17.40 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Christophe Ridley, Damian Schneider
TMO: Andrew Jackson

Stats and facts:

Springbok record against Wales:
Played 42; Won 34; Lost 7; Drawn 1; Points for: 1 112; Points against; 671; Tries scored: 131; Tries conceded: 55; Highest score: 96-13; Biggest win: 83 points; Win %: 80,9%

Miscellaneous:

• Saturday’s match will be the Springboks’ 101^st match on British and Irish soil since the first tour in 1906 – including matches in the two Rugby World Cups held on the islands. Of those 100 matches, 66 have been won and three drawn while 31 have been lost. The most wins (20) have come against Wales; while the most defeats have been suffered against England (11).
• Eben Etzebeth will extend his Springbok record as the most capped player to 131 caps if he takes the field.
• The Springboks’ fourth try against England in on Saturday was the 50^th of the season – the most the Boks have scored in a non-Rugby World Cup season since 1997 (when 74 tries were scored in 13 tests).
• Should the Springboks win, it will be their 55^th in 78 matches since Rassie Erasmus returned (with Jacques Nienaber) in 2018 for a winning percentage of 70,5% over the past seven seasons (no matches were played in 2020), completing the raising of the team’s historic winning record by more than one whole percentage point from 62,47% to 63,60%.
• Should the Springboks win, it will be their 11^th victory from 13 matches in the year for a winning percentage of 84,6% – repeating the feat of 2023 – and the highest seasonal percentage achieved since 1998 when 11 of 12 matches were won for a percentage of 91,7%.
• A win or a draw for the Springboks would complete the first undefeated northern hemisphere tour since 2013.
• This will be the second time the teams meet in the UK this season after playing an international friendly in their opening match of the season at the Allianz Stadium in June.
• The total Test caps for the Springbok starting line-up is 539.
• There are 256 caps in the backline, with 283 caps among the forwards. On the bench there are a further 431 caps.
• The average caps per player in the backline is 36, the forwards 35, while the players on the bench average 53.