Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named a strong squad of 39 players for the Castle Lager Incoming Series which kicks off with a challenging two Tests against Ireland on Saturday, 6 July, followed by a one-off Test against Portugal.
The squad includes nine players who were not available for selection for the Wales Test and four uncapped players.
Two times World Cup winner and captain Siya Kolisi was included in the squad, fellow World Cup winners Cheslin Kolbe and Lukhanyo Am are back in the squad after their successful rehabilitations.
It is however not clear whether he’ll feature in the matches nor captain the team, as coach Rassie Erasmus has in the past indicated that he prefers the Boks captain to be locally based.
Pieter-Steph du Toit, who is also included in the team, was appointed to captain the team against Wales on Saturday.
Key players and World Cup winners Marco van Staden, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Willie le Roux are also back in the squad, after featuring in the United Rugby Championship grand final against Glasgow Warriors on Saturday.
“We named the best squad available for the Castle Incoming Series, and with squad depth being one of our key pillars as we build toward to the 2027 Rugby World Cup and the Test against Portugal.
“We thought it would be beneficial to us to name a standby squad with a few players who will join us at training sporadically in the next few weeks,” said Erasmus.
“It’s great to have the overseas-based and Vodacom Bulls players back in the mix and with many of them being Rugby World Cup-winners, they will bring experience and calm heads to the team,” said Erasmus.
The coach added that he was impressed by many young players who travelled with the team to London last week, and some of them could come into the selection mix for the Test against Portugal particularly as they continue to expose them to international rugby.
“We have a jam-packed three weeks lined up with training and the Ireland Test Series,
“We’ll look at bringing in the standby players intermittently within the next few weeks to train with us and continue to familiarise themselves with our systems, especially with an eye on the Portugal Test.
“This year marks the start of building toward to the 2027 Rugby World Cup, so we would like to continue exposing players to international rugby with an eye on that objective,” explained Erasmus.
