Rassie gives indication which Bok players will be going to Argentina and who’ll stay home

The Springboks will unleash a number of returning Springbok stars in their one-off Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires next week Saturday, while also leaving some experienced players at home to begin preparing for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series against the All Blacks. Speaking during a virtual media session on Tuesday afternoon, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus revealed that Ox Nche and Franco Mostert, who are in the current Bok 44-man group, are unavailable for the trip to South America next week. He also said that players such as Malcolm Marx and Pieter-Steph du Toit would likely get a break, while captain Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Lood de Jager among others, would be in the match 23 to take on Los Pumas.

“Other than our long term injuries, like Kwagga (Smith) and RG (Snyman), only Ox and Franco Mostert are not available for next week’s game,” said Erasmus. “Apart from that, everybody, Ethan (Hooker), Canan (Moodie), Sacha, Eben, Lood, Morne (van den Berg), more or less everybody else is ready. “I know a lot of people are talking about Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry now, but our focus is on next week’s game and how we have to beat Argentina.

So let’s get past that hurdle before focusing on what comes next.” Perfect timing After it was announced last year that the Rugby Championship would not be played in 2026, with the RGR series against the All Blacks taking its place, the Boks looked to add extra Tests to the calendar, which included one-off matches against Argentina and Australia. The match against the Pumas thus comes at the perfect time to get some players up to speed and match fit ahead of the All Blacks series. “We always knew we were going to play this game, but as it worked out, it’s a great opportunity to give some of the returning players a run,” explained Erasmus.

“Siya could have returned a week earlier (against Wales), but we wanted to make sure that he is fully fit, because a hamstring is a difficult thing. Same with Eben’s concussion, Lood’s injury and Sacha’s return. Sacha came nicely through his first training (session) with us.

“The game is a really good time for us and it’s a good quality team. It would be good to see who will be ready to play New Zealand in two weeks’ time after that match.” The Boks will name the 26 players from their current 44-man group to tour Argentina later this week.