Kolbe, Etzebeth, Esterhuizen and Pollard all ruled out of Springboks' Nations Championship tour with injuries

South Africa will be without four World Cup-winning stalwarts for the second leg of the Nations Championship, after Cheslin Kolbe, Eben Etzebeth, Andre Esterhuizen and Handre Pollard were all ruled out through injury. Head coach Rassie Erasmus named a 37-man squad on Tuesday that includes six uncapped players as the Springboks prepare for Tests against Italy (7 November), France (13 November) and Ireland (21 November), ahead of the Finals Weekend in London from 27-29 November.

Kolbe is sidelined with a broken jaw, Etzebeth with a lower-limb problem, Esterhuizen with an ankle injury, and Pollard with a hamstring issue. Despite the absences, the squad retains a settled core, with captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Damian de Allende all included as South Africa look to convert their lead at the top of the standings into a Nations Championship title.

The six uncapped players earning their first national call-ups are Yaqeen Ahmed, Sebastian de Klerk, Luan Giliomee, Markus Muller, Riley Norton and Emmanuel Tshituka. None are entirely unknown to the Springbok set-up: Ahmed, Giliomee, Muller and Tshituka featured for the SA ‘A’ team against Zimbabwe, Norton — a former Junior Springbok captain — played against the Barbarians earlier this season, and De Klerk attended the national alignment camp last year.

Erasmus said the sextet had earned their places through sustained club form and prior involvement in South African representative rugby. “We’ve had all six players on our radar for a while now, and they’ve delivered consistently for their respective franchises in the last two seasons, so they thoroughly deserve their call-ups,” he said.

“Building squad depth has always been one of our key pillars as a team, and all those players have shown that they have what it takes to compete at top franchise level. There is no doubt facing some of the top teams in elite international rugby will be a completely different challenge, but we have full faith in them to do their best on tour.”

The Springboks arrive at this stage of the competition in strong form, having topped the Southern Series table in July after victories over England, Scotland and Wales, and were also crowned the inaugural Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry champions. With the Nations Championship title now firmly in their sights, Erasmus will be hoping his emerging talent can fill the void left by four of South Africa’s most experienced operators.