Springboks call up 5 players as star leaves camp for 'personal reasons'

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has added five players to the squad for the final Test of the Castle Lager Incoming Series against Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The 41-man squad includes seven uncapped players.

Lock Franco Mostert and winger Edwill van der Merwe are out due to injuries, with further details expected on Monday. Damian de Allende has left the camp for personal reasons.

The new additions are capped Springboks back row Elrigh Louw and prop Ntuthuko Mchunu; and uncapped fullback Quan Horn, hooker Andre-Hugo Venter and back row Ruan Venter, who attended Bok alignment camps in May.

Eight of the nine players released to their provincial unions for the Carling Currie Cup last week have rejoined the squad.

Erasmus announced that several players would be released on Wednesday after completing main on-field preparations for the historic Test against Portugal at Toyota Stadium.

The Springboks arrived in Bloemfontein on Sunday and will start on-field preparations on Monday, aiming to recover from their recent 25-24 defeat to Ireland in Durban.

“It was always part of our planning to expose a few players to top-class international rugby against Portugal in line with our objective to build squad depth with an eye on the 2027 Rugby World Cup,” said Erasmus.

“Some of the players had a taste of international rugby against Wales at Twickenham, others received an opportunity off the bench against Ireland, and Andre-Hugo Venter toured with us to London for the Wales Test, so we are delighted with the quality of the players coming through the ranks.

“Portugal are a quality team as they showed in the Rugby World Cup last year by defeating Fiji, and we have no doubt they’ll want to make a strong statement against us, so although we may mix things up for this Test, we’ll select a quality team that we have full faith in to get our season back on track.”

Erasmus added: “The players we plan to release will continue to put in the hard yards to prepare the team that will face Portugal, as we generally do with the non-playing players, which is invaluable in preparing the team as well as possible.”

Erasmus acknowledged that losing to Ireland was a setback, but emphasized the importance of rest for players who will be released ahead of the demanding Castle Lager Rugby Championship. The campaign includes back-to-back Tests against Australia in Brisbane and Perth, two home Tests against New Zealand in Johannesburg and Cape Town, a Test against Argentina in Santiago, and the final match against the Pumas in Nelspruit.

“This is a long and challenging season, and as much as it would have been great to win both matches against Ireland, it’s vital that we manage the players well to allow them to regenerate in order to maximise their performances throughout the season,” said Erasmus.

“Those players will have 10 days off, which means they’ll be fresh when they rejoin the squad before the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.”

Erasmus will announce his matchday team to face Portugal on Tuesday.

SQUAD

Props: Ntuthuko Mchunu, Ox Nche, Gerhard Steenekamp, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Frans Malherbe, Vincent Koch, Trevor Nyakane, Thomas du Toit.

Hookers: Bongi Mbonambi, Malcolm Marx, Johan Grobbelaar, Andre-Hugo Venter.

Locks: Eben Etzebeth, Salmaan Moerat, RG Snyman.

Loose forwards: Siya Kolisi, Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Phepsi Buthelezi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Ben-Jason Dixon, Evan Roos, Ruan Venter, Kwagga Smith, Jasper Wiese.

Scrumhalves: Faf de Klerk, Grant Williams, Cobus Reinach, Morne van den Berg.

Flyhalves: Handre Pollard, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie Libbok.

Centres: Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen, Jesse Kriel.

Outside backs: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cheslin Kolbe, Willie le Roux, Makazole Mapimpi, Aphelele Fassi, Quan Horn.