Etzebeth cleared to face All Blacks

Springbok lock, Eben Etzebeth, has been given the greenlight to face New Zealand in the Rugby Championship match in Johannesburg on Saturday after completing all the training sessions this week thus far.

Etzebeth has been drafted onto the replacements bench in place of Marco van Staden and will provide lock cover for the starting combination of Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje.

He was initially excluded from the Boks’ match-23 due to a knee injury concern.

Should he get game time, he’ll become the second most capped Springbok of all time with 125 tests.

Another lock, Victor Matfield holds the Springbok record with 127 test caps.

“Our selection policy has always been that if a player does not train on a Monday he will not play on Saturday, but Eben has made it through training pain-free all week, so we had to make the tough call to name him in the squad at the expense of Marco,” said head coach, Rassie Erasmus.

“There were back-up options for us at lock in the initial squad, but with Eben on the bench it means we have another specialist in that position in the team. We are blessed to have an expanded squad of about 45 players who have all bought into our plans and who understand what’s best for the team, and its admirable how Marco accepted the news. It shows the quality of the player and person he is.”

Meanwhile, Erasmus released four players – Steven Kitshoff, Manie Libbok, Canan Moodie and Makazole Mapimpi – to their provincial unions this afternoon to get game time in the Currie Cup this weekend.