Rassie Erasmus' new era Springboks - What to expect

Rassie Erasmus' new era Springboks - What to expect

With Rassie Erasmus set to lead his charges for the first time on home soil, we take a look at a few players set to make their debut for the Springboks against England as well as a few other relatively new faces to the test arena. 

Predicting the Springbok lineup for the first test became a lot easier with the large majority of the players featuring against Wales unlikely to feature in the first test on home soil while the likes of Bismarck du Plessis and Frans Steyn have also being ruled out.

Bongi Mbonambi

Mbonambi will get a rare start for the Boks this weekend with Malcolm Marx out of action and Bismarck returning next week. 


The Stormers hooker has made one Super Rugby appearance this season but Erasmus has all but confirmed that he will start on Saturday.

Mbonambi is your regular run of the mill hooker, he puts in hefty tackles and is solid at set pieces.


RG Snyman 

The Bulls lock is set to debut as he fills in for Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager who have both been ruled out through injury.

Snyman has the traditional build and traits of a South African lock with a modern twist that he runs clever lines and has excellent ball skills. 

Sbu Nkosi 

The Sharks winger made headlines in the tailend of the 2017 Super Rugby season and continued to perform in the Currie Cup.

The 100kg winger was set to debut last November but an injury delayed his test bow. 

Nkosi has adapted to the right wing having switched wings at the start of the season and is expected to run out in the 14 jersey against England.

Nkosi is a strong finisher and will certainly punish England is given the opportunity. 

Aphiwe Dyantyi

Having set Super Rugby alight in opening stages of the competition, Dyantyi is a bit of a late bloomer having only made his debut for the Lions at 23.

A former centre Dyanti is solid on defence but has pace to burn and a deadly sidestep that makes him an extremely dangerous threat on the wing. 

Lukhanyo Am

Am has already made his test debut against Wales in November but the Sharks outside centre is set to be named in the starting line up for the first time against England.

Am is an intelligent centre that is gifted with a wide range of skills including an accurate offload.

The 24-year-old is defensively good and will look to snatch the 13 jersey from Jesse Kriel who started the large majority of the Springbok games last year.

Jean-Luc du Preez

Wales fans would have seen du Preez's brothers Rob and Dan in action last weekend but this week England fans will get a look at Jean-Luc, who is arguably the form South African flanker so far this season.

The 22-year-old flanker already has 10 test caps but heads into the Test window in the best form of his career. Jean-Luc seems to have mastered the art of the offload, puts thundering hits in and is an extremely strong ball carrier. 

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