Winners & Losers from South Africa v Barbarians team announcement

The Springboks take on the Barbarians in a Qatar Airways Cup in Cape Town on Saturday, in their opening match of the international season.

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has named his matchday 23 and here are our winners and losers.

Winners

The four debutants (Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Vincent Tshituka, Marnus van der Merwe & Neethling Fouche)

Each of the 4 players have had great individual performances with their clubs this season respectively.

Asenathi Ntlabakanye has been a great asset to the Lions team making 21 appearances in all competitions. He boasts great scrumming and ball carrying abilities and is no slouch on defence making a total of 183 tackles this season.

Vincent Tshituka enjoyed success with the Sharks bowing out in the semi-finals stage of the URC against the Bulls. The flanker racked up some impressive stats this season carrying the ball 131 times, beating 20 defenders, making 407 metres and made 168 tackles.

Marnus van der Merwe also had some good performances this season with the Scarlets after they managed a Top 8 finish and Neethling Fouche also had a good season with the Stormers featuring in 17 of the 23 games they played this season.

Lood de Jager

The seasoned lock returns for his first Test since the Springboks’ 2023 Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks in New Zealand — his only appearance in the past two seasons due to a series of injuries.

Losers

The four debutants (Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Vincent Tshituka, Marnus van der Merwe & Neethling Fouche)

Although the 4 forwards will be featuring in the Springbok squad for the first time, they won’t receive any caps as the Barbarians are a composite team.