Etzebeth To Captain Boks As Smith Hits 50

Eben Etzebeth will captain the Springboks and Kwagga Smith will make his 50th Test appearance against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Rassie Erasmus has sprung several surprises for the Springboks’ end-of-year tour opener and welcomed back locks Franco Mostert and RG Snyman from long injury layoffs.

Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Thomas du Toit make up the front row with Etzebeth being joined in the second row by Mostert, who returns to the national side for the first time since recovering from the broken leg he suffered against Ireland in July.

Smith, who made his Bok debut against Wales in Washington in 2018 and went on to win two Rugby World Cup winner’s medals, will start at No. 8 as he celebrates his half-ton and completes a back-row that sees Marco van Staden and Elrigh Louw start on the flanks.

Jaden Hendrikse and Handre Pollard are the halfback pairing, with Andre Esterhuizen and Lukhanyo Am linking up in the midfield and Makazole Mapimpi, Canan Moodie and Willie le Roux – who’ll earn his 98th cap – completing the starting XV.

Regular captain Siya Kolisi headlines a 7-1 split bench where Snyman returns from the foot injury he sustained in Australia in the build-up to the first Test against the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship, which ruled him out of the team’s triumphant campaign.

Gerhard Steenekamp, Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese are amongst the Nuke Squad with Grant Williams, who provides cover at scrumhalf and wing, named as the only backline replacement.

The Boks have won the last eight encounters against the Scots and most recently triumphed 18-3 in a World Cup pool match in Marseille last September.

Fast facts:

• The Springboks have won eight successive Tests against Scotland since losing 21-17 at Murrayfield in 2010 – their only defeat in the past 16 meetings between the teams.
• The Springboks have won eight out of 10 matches in 2024 by an average score of 34-17 and averaging four tries to two.
• Kwagga Smith will earn his 50th Test cap.
• Willie le Roux will be only two appearances away from becoming the eighth Springbok to make a century of Test appearances after Sunday’s match.
• Eben Etzebeth will extend his Springbok record of 129 Test appearances and will captain South Africa for the 14th time.
• Malcolm Marx and Makazole Mapimpi and have each scored four tries in 2024 – the most by a Springbok player this year and equal with Aphelele Fassi and Kurt-Lee Arendse, who are not in the match day 23.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 22 Jasper Wiese, 23 Grant Williams.