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Springboks issue squad update ahead of final home match of 2023

(Photo by Dave Rowland/Getty Images)

Jacques Nienaber has issued a squad update ahead of South Africa’s July 29 match versus Argentina in Johannesburg, the Springboks’ final home outing before the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France.

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The South Africans, who opened their season by hammering Australia in Pretoria on July 8, have had a two-day rest following their return home from last weekend’s Rugby Championship loss in New Zealand and they are due to gather later on Wednesday.

A statement read: “The Springboks squad will assemble in Pretoria on Wednesday evening to resume their preparations for their final Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against Argentina in Johannesburg on Saturday, July 29, after a well-deserved two-day rest following their journey back from New Zealand.

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All Blacks v South Africa recap | The Breakdown

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All Blacks v South Africa recap | The Breakdown

“Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber has retained the same extended group of players for the camp, including scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse, who was given time off following a family bereavement, and prop Gerhard Steenekamp – a member of the New Zealand touring squad – who remains as injury cover for Ox Nche, who is recovering from a pectoral muscle injury. Lock Eben Etzebeth will join his teammates on Sunday.

“The match at Emirates Airline Park will be the Boks’ final appearance on South African soil in 2023. It comes after seven successive home sell-outs since the start of the 2022 season.”

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Head coach Nienaber said: “We have a settled squad, and everyone is determined to get back to action and to bounce back following the result against New Zealand. We are bitterly disappointed about the defeat, but we will take lessons from that match and implement that as we look forward to our final match in the competition.

“Playing such a vital match in front of our supporters is always special. This match may not only be the decider of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, but it’s also the last match we play at home before the World Cup.

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“That passionate support almost serves as an extra player for us, so we would like to appeal to South Africa’s rugby faithful to come out in their green and gold and make this a memorable send-off for us.

“One of the boxes we ticked in the last two weeks was to work on our player load. Getting that balance right is going to be vital so that we can peak at the right time this season.

“We have a sizeable squad, and we need to ensure that we give as many players as possible the chance to stake a claim for places in the World Cup squad, while at the same time getting the desired results so that we can build momentum going into the World Cup.

“We have four matches left before the international showpiece and we are still in the race for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship title so we intend to get down to business immediately and make the most of the time we have on and off the training field to get the squad where we would like them to be mentally and physically.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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