Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus named an expanded squad for the first two matches of the season against the Barbarians and Zimbabwe.
The top-ranked Springboks launch their 2026 international campaign against the Barbarians on Saturday, with head coach Rassie Erasmus warning his squad of the gruelling 14-match schedule ahead.
"We are under no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead," said the mastermind who famously transformed the Springboks from what he called the "laughing stock" of rugby into back-to-back world champions.
The former South Africa loose forward inherited a side ranked seventh in the world in 2018 — a team that had lost to then-European lightweights Italy and were playing in front of half-empty stadiums. Under Erasmus, the Springboks captured the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup tournaments, won the last two editions of the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship, and climbed to the summit of the world rankings.
Erasmus has chosen just six of his established first-choice XV for the non-cap exhibition fixture against the Baa-Baas, including double World Cup-winning captain and loose forward Siya Kolisi.
