Eben to lead ahead of Siya

Siya Kolisi will not captain the Springboks on Sunday evening when they take on Scotland in the Outgoing Tour in Murrayfield.

Coach, Rassie Erasmus, named his team today.

He says Eben Etzebeth will lead the side, with Kolisi on the bench which sees a 7-1 split.

Kwagga Smith will earn his 50th Test cap, while locks Franco Mostert and RG Snyman return to the green and gold jumper after long spells on the sidelines due to injury.

The 31-year-old Smith, who made his Springbok debut against Wales in Washington in 2018 and went on to win two Rugby World Cup winner’s medals, will start at No 8 as he celebrates this significant career milestone.

Mostert returns to the team for the first time since recovering from the broken leg he suffered against Ireland in the Incoming Series and Snyman is fully fit after a foot injury sustained in Australia in the build-up to the first Test against the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship, which ruled him out of the team’s triumphant campaign.

“This is a seasoned and quality team. Twenty one of the 23 players have won a Rugby World Cup title, with some having won two, so they know what it takes to perform at this level,” said Erasmus.

“Many of these combinations have also played together this season either during the Incoming Series and Rugby Championship, or both, which will be valuable against a quality team such as Scotland.

“We are expecting an extremely physical match, so we opted for a seven-one split of forwards on the bench, and this was aided by the fact that we have such versatile players in the backline, who can cover different positions if necessary.” Written by Ntsako Mkhari