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A number of exciting rising front row talents are set to get an opportunity to stake their claim for the Springboks over the coming international season.
Ox Nche and Asenathi Ntlabakanye during the Springbok training camp in Johannesburg. Picture: Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images
The Springboks are set to witness an end of an era and a changing of the guard in one of their strongest departments, the front row, over the coming international season.
Injuries, retirements and age mean that a large contingent of Bok front row heroes from the past two World Cup wins will likely be on their way out, opening the door for some exciting new talent to step into the breach.
The biggest loss was the forced retirement earlier this year of veteran loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff, who was unable to recover from a serious neck injury.
His long-term Stormers and Bok front row partner Frans Malherbe has question marks hanging over his career due to neck and back injuries that have plagued him since the previous World Cup.
Veteran struggles
Another veteran, Sharks prop Trevor Nyakane, has also been plagued by various injuries, and along with Malherbe, look like they won’t feature for the Boks this year.
With them set to be 38 and 36 respectively by the time the next World Cup roles around in 2027, will they have a chance of forcing their way back into the Bok mix?
Heading into the start of the international season in two weeks’ time, two of the Boks’ rising front ranking talents, the Bulls’ Gerhard Steenekamp and soon to be Stormer Ntuthuko Mchunu, are also out of action with injuries.
It is thus an exciting time for new talent and Lions prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye and Stormers prop Neethling Fouche will likely benefit and get a chance to show what they can do in the games against the Barbarians, Italy and Georgia in the coming weeks.
Another one benefitting from the injuries is former Cheetahs and current Edinburgh prop, Boan Venter, who was added to the Bok squad this past weekend and he will be in line to make his debut along with Ntlabakanye and Fouche.
Bulls utility forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels is also set for an extended run, after impressing for his franchise in the absence of Steenekamp, while he is also held in high regard by Bok coach Rassie Erasmus.
Third choice hooker
At hooker the Boks are still anxiously searching for a reliable third choice option, especially with Bongi Mbonambi heading into the twilight of his career.
Deon Fourie covered that position at the World Cup in 2023, but is injured, while Joseph Dweba and Johan Grobbelaar, who have featured over the past few years, have both missed out on selection.
That has opened the door for former Cheetahs and current Scarlets hooker Marnus van der Merwe to step in, and he will likely make his Bok debut and get a huge opportunity to stake a claim for the third choice slot over the coming season.
Speaking at a Bok press conference last week, Erasmus admitted that we would see a lot of change in the front row this season.
“Kitsie has retired. Frans is not likely to play for us this season and Trevor definitely not. We have brought Asenathi in, and we have been working really hard behind the scenes with the Lions to get the best out of him,” said Erasmus.
“A guy like Neethling is 30 now and that is a lekker age for a tighthead. Thomas du Toit is doing really well on that side [in England], he’s one of the top players there. Wilco [Louw] is also doing really well, and Ntuthuko Mchunu unfortunately has a knee injury now.
“I think it is natural that some of the older guys will either retire or fall off the pace. But we don’t want to change our game and not keep that forward power. So hopefully the guys who get that opportunity will take it. We will definitely have other guys playing there this year.”
