Boks pick unchanged team to face England in World Cup semi-final

The Springbok team to face England in the World Cup semi-finals in Paris on Saturday has been named.

Coach Jacques Nienaber named an unchanged team from last weekend’s quarter-final win against France.

It means the Boks will again go into the match with a split of five forwards and three backs on their bench, the 2019 title-winning trio of Faf de Klerk, Handre Pollard and Willie le Roux providing backline cover.

Up front, Duane Vermeulen plays at No 8 and next to Eben Etzebeth will be Franco Mostert.

Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, who both scored tries in the win against France, will be on the wings, with Damian Willemse at fullback.

The matchday squad is the most experienced in Springbok history – with a combined total of 895 caps – with 15 of the 23 having played against England in the 32-12 victory in the RWC final four years ago in Japan when the Boks lifted the Webb Ellis Cup for the third time.

It is also only the second time that Nienaber (and Director of rugby Rassie Erasmus) named an identical line-up in 64 Tests since they took charge of the team in 2018. The only other occasion was in the opening match of the 2019 tournament, which was lost 13-23 to New Zealand.

Depth

“We’ve been building a quality Rugby World Cup squad for the last few years so that we could be in this position going into the knockout matches,” said Nienaber.

“We have a squad of 33 players, all of whom are very closely matched in terms of their skill and quality of play which made it tempting to make changes this week and it was tough to select this group both last week and this week. But we feel it’s now time to go with the players in the squad who we believe are in their best form.”

Some of the players to miss out include Lukhanyo Am, Canan Moodie, Andre Esterhuizen, Jasper Wiese and Jean Kleyn. “These players are all good enough to be in this team and would have fitted in and done the job just well as the other players.

“But we can only select 23 and everyone in this group is aligned and understands that the country comes first,” said Nienaber.

Bok team:

Damian Willemse, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe, Manie Libbok, Cobus Reinach, Duane Vermeulen, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (capt), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff. Bench: Deon Fourie, Ox Nche, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Faf de Klerk, Handre Pollard, Willie le Roux