Lood de Jager, Jean-Luc du Preez and Aphelele Fassi have joined Kurt-Lee Arendse and others who are missing out.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus named most of the players who were members of the squad that retained the Freedom Cup in New Zealand last weekend in his 33-man squad for their closing two Rugby Championship matches against Argentina.
These rounds will decide if the Boks retain the title, or whether a different team will be crowned the champions.
The players ruled out of contention for selection were Lood de Jager (lock), Jean-Luc du Preez (loose forward), and Aphelele Fassi (fullback) – who all suffered injuries during the New Zealand tour – as well as Gerhard Steenekamp, Frans Malherbe (both props), Salmaan Moerat (lock), and Kurt-Lee Arendse (utility back), who have been on the injury list for different durations in the last few months.
Springbok squad announced
The squad to face Argentina includes 18 forwards and 15 backline players. The teams will meet in Durban on Saturday 27 September and in London on 4 October.
Following medical assessments in camp on Thursday, there is a possibility that a further three players could be added to the group later in the week, with a group of up to 30 players set to travel to London for the final match.
As things stand, the Wallabies are currently on 11 points going into their Bledisloe Cup matches against New Zealand, while the Springboks are in second place, and the All Blacks in third (both on 10 points), while the Pumas are one point back with nine points – with all four teams having won two of their four matches.
“This group of players have been together for over 13 weeks now, and they’ve shown that they are the right players for this big task against the Pumas,” said Erasmus.
“We’ve chopped and changed our squad a fair bit this season, playing a total of 46 players in our last eight matches, including in the Barbarians match, and by training together almost daily, we are confident that these are the players who can give us the best shot to try to retain the title.”
Erasmus admitted that it was disappointing losing players such as Fassi, De Jager, and Du Preez to injuries, but he was satisfied with the depth they had in the squad.
Springbok squad to face Argentina
Forwards: Pieter-Steph du Toit, Thomas du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Vincent Koch, Siya Kolisi, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi, Franco Mostert, Ox Nche, Ruan Nortjé, Kwagga Smith, RG Snyman, Marnus van der Merwe, Marco van Staden, Boan Venter, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Jasper Wiese.
Backs: Damian de Allende, Faf de Klerk, André Esterhuizen, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ethan Hooker, Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, Manie Libbok, Makazole Mapimpi, Canan Moodie, Handré Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Morne van den Berg, Damian Willemse, Grant Williams.
