Rassie Erasmus will be working with scraps for Saturday’s clash against Wales in Cardiff, with the Springbok coach confirming that only 24 or 25 players will make the trip after a mass exodus from the touring squad.
Speaking after the Boks’ historic 24-13 win over Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night – their first victory in Dublin since 2012 – Erasmus revealed that most overseas-based players will be unavailable for the non-Test window fixture.
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The biggest blow comes from Japan, where nine players must return to honour club commitments after their employers granted them special release for the earlier Test against Japan, which also fell outside World Rugby’s international window.
That means Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kwagga Smith, Jasper Wiese, Malcolm Marx, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel, Franco Mostert, Cheslin Kolbe and Manie Libbok will all be heading east rather than west to Wales. Lood de Jager is already suspended.
“A whole bunch of guys have to return to Japan. Some of the Japanese clubs asked us nicely, because they helped us for our match against Japan, which was also outside the Test window,” Erasmus explained.
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The Sharks duo of Edwill van der Merwe and Grant Williams will also depart, while Edinburgh loosehead Boan Venter, Leinster lock RG Snyman and Bath tighthead Thomas du Toit are unavailable due to their club rules.
“It’s the same for Wales. They also have a few guys who play in the Premiership. You can’t get away from the rule there that guys may not play outside the window,” Erasmus said.
“We will now go and see how things stand with the injuries.”
Despite the depleted squad, Erasmus stressed the importance of maintaining focus against Wales to secure a top-four World Rugby ranking finish – a crucial objective for avoiding a potential Group of Death in the 2027 World Cup draw.
“Some people might have expected us to beat Ireland because they are number four and we are number one, but we still know that we can slip if we lose focus for the Test against Wales,” he warned.
“I think we’ve used 50 players this year. Next year we can do more experiments. The first goal was just to finish in the top four so that with the World Cup draw we don’t end up in a ‘Group of Death’.”
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