Ken Borland

With the victory in the big game against England safely tucked away in the Done folder, Rassie Erasmus has been able to make the raft of changes that was clearly the desire of the Springbok coach for this Saturday’s Nations Championship Test against Scotland at Loftus Versfeld.

Ten of the 23-man squad that saw off England in impressive fashion at Ellis Park have been retained for the Pretoria match, but only five of them remain in the starting line-up. One of the more interesting selections is the shifting of Damian Willemse, the correct choice for man of the match against England after his outstanding display at fullback, to inside centre.

Jesse Kriel will be alongside him as he retains the No.13 jersey, while Pieter-Steph du Toit, as captain and blindside flank, and Paul de Villiers on the openside, continue to stand in for Siya Kolisi as he recovers from a hamstring injury.

Lock Ruan Nortje, whose work-rate was typically admirable at Ellis Park, is the other player to keep their starting place.

Canan Moodie moves from the bench to starting on the left wing, while scrumhalf Grant Williams, also brilliant at Ellis Park, goes in the other direction. That provides the opportunity for the long-awaited return of Embrose Papier to the Springbok fold. The form scrumhalf of the United Rugby Championship last appeared in Test rugby on November 24, 2018, as a 21-year-old against Wales at the Millenium Stadium.

Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Zachary Porthen and Ben-Jason Dixon retain their places among the substitutes.

Erasmus said Kolisi should be all right to play next week, as should Lood de Jager and Ethan Hooker. The news on Eben Etzebeth and Ox Nche is not so good.

“We want to give Eben proper time because he has had history with concussion. I don’t think he’ll play in the Nations Championship, we should target Argentina [August 8) for his return. Ox, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Morne van den Berg should be fit three weeks before the New Zealand series.

“Scotland winning in Argentina did not have any role in our selection. We picked this team for us to make sure we go to the World Cup next year knowing who can do what, where and when under pressure. Scotland played really well, they are a good team and they beat England in the Six Nations. So it could be a tougher game this weekend.

“We didn’t necessarily look at franchise combinations, it was just who is fit to play and players we would like to see what they can do. We don’t have a lot of caps and we will be much less experienced than Scotland. But these players wouldn’t be here if we didn’t think they can do the job.

“The wear and tear on players is tough, although we’re fairly fresh now because we have lots of Japan-based players. But then someone like Siya, who didn’t play for six weeks because his franchise was out of the URC, is well-rested but then got injured.

“So this selection is more about rotation, which is not easy because you always want to win. It’s difficult if you lose because then you lose momentum and belief as well. If Saturday had gone badly, then we would have held some guys back and been more conservative in this selection, making just one or two changes,” Erasmus said.

Given how impressive Papier has been for the Bulls over several successful URC campaigns, his continued absence from the Springbok picture baffled many; there were even (inevitably?) whispers about Erasmus and him having some sort of fallout.

But the coach said he was happy the 29-year-old had forced his way back into contention through sheer performance.

“Embrose has played very well this season,” Erasmus said on Monday when asked what had changed his mind about Papier. “2018 was my first year as coach and he earned his caps then. But then guys like Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach and Jaden Hendrikse established themselves, even Herschel Jantjies was involved in winning a World Cup.

“So we had a bunch of really good 9s; sometimes you don’t get selected not because you’re not playing well or because you’re not Springbok class. But you could not look past the way he has played this year, there have been some injuries and some guys have lost form. I am very happy for him personally and we wanted him to play with Handre Pollard, who he is familiar with at flyhalf, which will help him,” Erasmus said.

Speaking of Pollard, there are concerns over the 32-year-old’s form and his return to the starting flyhalf position marks a crucial opportunity for him to dispel any talk of him not being on board for next year’s World Cup. In some circles, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Manie Libbok and Willemse would be considered ahead of him in the flyhalf pecking order.

Willemse starting at inside centre last happened on September 13 last year – that landmark day when the Springboks handed the All Blacks a record defeat in Wellington. The double World Cup winner had been influential in the No.12 jersey, but then, in the 38^th minute, with the Springboks trailing 7-10, Aphelele Fassi was injured and Willemse shifted to fullback.

His performance was a revelation and one of the great individual displays in Springbok history, and Willemse has been in the No.15 jersey for the next seven Tests he played in. But with the unfortunate Fassi back in the Springbok mix for the first time since then, Erasmus wants to get him back up and running. With Andre Esterhuizen concussed, Willemse has the chance to remind everyone how good he is at inside centre as well.

Other players looking to re-state their ability are Edwill van der Merwe, fresh off a hat-trick against the Barbarians, on the wing, Evan Roos at eighthman, Cobus Wiese at lock and Johan Grobbelaar and Boan Venter in the front row. Ntuthuko Mchunu, another standout star in the URC, and Porthen are extremely mobile props on the bench and they will be well-suited to an attacking Scottish side playing at altitude.

Ben-Jason Dixon did well as a replacement lock against England and will surely fill that role again at Loftus Versfeld, with Vincent Tshituka and late inclusion Elrigh Louw providing loose forward cover on the bench. Having originally been left out of the Nations Championship squad following a major knee injury that saw him miss most of 2025, Louw has more to gain than most if he can put up a barnstorming performance on his home ground.

Lions star Quan Horn will provide cover for both the fullback and flyhalf positions, Erasmus confirmed.

“Damian Willemse has done helluva well at 15 and now he has a different role at inside centre, he probably won’t have to catch a lot of box-kicks … But we wanted to give Damian de Allende a rest and we wanted to see Aphelele Fassi at fullback. Quan Horn will cover 10 and 15,” Erasmus said.

Team: Aphelele Fassi; Edwill van de Merwe, Jesse Kriel, Damian Willemse, Canan Moodie; Handre Pollard, Embrose Papier; Evan Roos, Pieter-Steph du Toit (capt), Paul de Villiers, Ruan Nortje, Cobus Wiese, Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar, Boan Venter. Replacements– Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Zachary Porthen, Ben-Jason Dixon, Vincent Tshituka, Elrigh Louw, Grant Williams, Quan Horn.

DP World Lions captain Dominic Hendricks has been able to massage away the disappointments of last season with a great accumulation of runs so far in the 2024/25 CSA 4-Day Series campaign, helping his team to the top of the standings as they go into their Christmas break.

Hendricks has scored 350 runs in seven innings this season, averaging 58.33 with one century and two fifties, all of those coming in testing batting conditions at the DP World Wanderers Stadium. His 161 not out against World Sports Betting Western Province was an epic innings spanning more than nine hours and 370 deliveries, setting up a 125-run victory. The left-handed opener then followed that up with a tenacious 89 against the Dafabet Warriors, again playing a pivotal role in a win by a massive 200 runs. He was named man of the match on both occasions.

Those back-to-back triumphs by the DP World Lions completed a hat-trick of wins at their home fortress and they top the standings with 83.96 points from four matches. The defending champions are more than 30 points ahead of the Renault North-West Dragons and the Free State Knights.

“Last season I struggled a bit, but this season I’ve really focused on being in my bubble and getting the opposition to bowl at me,” Hendricks says. “I’m not straying from my game-plan and I’m keeping things as simple as possible. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel.

“It’s been very intense, very tough cricket at the DP World Wanderers because of how tricky the pitch has been. But we’ve done really well at home and fortunately we’ve had most of our fixtures there so far. We play four of our seven fixtures at home this season, so that’s a nice advantage. Ideally, we would like to make the DP World Wanderers our home fortress.

“We’re sitting pretty in the standings at the moment, but we can’t be complacent when we come back to four-day cricket in March. We’ll need to carry on from where we left off. We’ve bowled really well and most of the guys have been in the runs as well. We’ve shown how good we can be, and when we return there’ll be more opportunities for the guys to produce man-of-the-match plays,” Hendricks says.

The pitch for the last game, the convincing win over the Warriors, was one of the toughest DP World Wanderers surfaces the 34-year-old stalwart has come across. But the batting effort showed the character of both the captain and his team-mates.

“I was really surprised by how much movement there was right through the game,” Hendricks says. “There was actually too much movement and visiting teams often don’t know how to bowl on DP World Wanderers pitches like that. The margin of error is always small and they tend to bowl a little too short, while we are a touch fuller.

“But the conditions evolve and as the pitch becomes better for batting, so the right length changes, it can go from four to six metres. Our bowlers have been really good at adapting and they’ve taken the feedback from the batsmen as to where to bowl to make it most difficult.

“The bowlers also did a phenomenal job in Potchefstroom where conditions became very batting friendly after the new ball. They kept them to less than three runs an over for more than 100 overs, which shows their skill,” Hendricks said.

Another member of #ThePrideOfJozi who has shown his talents to great effect has been young Muhammad Manack. The 22-year-old came in at first wicket down against Western Province in the second over of the match and added 108 for the second wicket with Hendricks, while scoring a career-best 64. Against the Warriors, he came to the crease in the seventh over and added 78 with his skipper in the first innings and then made 49 in the second innings, coming in in the 10^th over and adding 64 with Josh Richards.

“Mo has certainly not looked like a duck out of water, he’s taken to that crucial number three position really well,” Hendricks says. “He made his debut last season, playing just one game while I was away for a wedding, but he immediately looked like he fits in. he’s worked really hard, but unfortunately there have not been that many opportunities for him, which is a tricky situation for a youngster.

“But he’s definitely shown he belongs, he’s a really compact, nice number three. Neil McKenzie always used to say that numbers one to three are the engine room of the team, you want your number four walking in with 40 overs bowled and ready to dominate.

“I really enjoy batting with the younger guys. At training you can know a player to a certain extent, but that’s not real pressure. So it was great to see how Mo handled himself out in the middle under pressure and how he went about his business. He’s very soft-spoken, but his temperament really stood out,” Hendricks says.

PORT EDWARD (KwaZulu-Natal) – Jonathan Broomhead was able to daub his scorecard with red numbers for birdie as he charged up the leaderboard in the final round to secure himself a place in the playoff, which he subsequently won to claim the Vodacom Origins of Golf Wild Coast title at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club on Sunday.

Broomhead shot a tremendous seven-under-par 63 on Sunday, which included nine birdies, as he posted the clubhouse lead at 11-under-par. Two hours later, it was only Luke Brown, who fired a brilliant 66, who managed to match that score.

Brown and Broomhead then both parred the 348m, par-four 18^th twice before Broomhead nailed a 20-foot putt for birdie on the third playoff hole, to secure his second Sunshine Tour title.

The Durban Country Club golfer began the final round seven strokes behind leader Pieter Moolman, and did not start well, making a bogey on the par-four first hole. But thereafter he played with tremendous freedom going out in 32 strokes. Another dropped shot, at the par-three 11^th, sandwiched birdies at the start of the back nine, and Broomhead finished in fabulous fashion with birdies at the last three holes to get to top spot.

“I definitely didn’t think about winning at the beginning of the day, but conditions were all in our favour and I just tried to make as many birdies as I could. I teed off two hours before the leaders and there was no pressure on me. I played really well and just attacked everything,” Broomhead, whose previous victory came in the prestigious Tour Championship at the end of last season, said.

“I definitely thought the leaders would make a few birdies on the back nine because the wind was down, and I thought my score was okay, but not where it ended up. I wasn’t under pressure to make pars, I was always in play and just played very solidly, plus I made some good putts.

“Winning once is nice, but you can start doubting if you can do it again. I’ve played nicely since Tour Champs and had quite a few chances to win. So I thought another chance would come and today was my day. I just always felt in control and my swing was really good,” Broomhead said.

Brown played with unfailing determination and focus as he also reached 11-under-par, but he just failed to pip Broomhead because he could only par the last three holes, including the 18^th, which he then parred three times in the playoff.

Keenan Davidse also piled on the pressure as he shot a marvellous 65 to finish on 10-under-par, just one stroke off the playoff.

Otto van Buynder (65), Simon du Plooy (65) and Ruan de Smidt (68) shared fourth place on nine-under-par.

Overnight leader Moolman slipped to a 74 on Sunday, finishing tied-12^th on seven-under-par.

Our DP World Lions were able to find both their winning form and a ready-made replacement for new Proteas leg-spinner Nqaba Peter as they won both their weekend home matches in the CSA T20 Challenge, with Junaid Dawood collecting a haul of eight wickets against the Warriors and the Dolphins.

Having spearheaded #ThePrideOfJozi’s charge to the title last season, young Peter has deservedly found his way into the national set-up. But after a tough opening encounter for both him and the team against the Titans, Dawood stepped up superbly this weekend when given the chance to emerge from the shadows.

The 28-year-old destroyed the Warriors’ batting line-up with five for 30, the second-best ever CSA T20 Challenge figures at the DP World Wanderers Stadium, as our DP World Lions secured a bonus point victory by 62 runs on Friday night. Dawood was then instrumental in the nine-run win over the Dolphins on Sunday, helping to trigger a middle-order collapse as he took three for 22.

Figures of eight overs, eight for 52 are an outstanding weekend’s work, and Dawood’s success is once again an indication of the healthy pipeline that DP World Lions cricket enjoys at the moment.

Chasing 157 for victory, the Dolphins were in good shape on 48 for one in the seventh over, but Dawood then deceived key batsman Marques Ackerman (32) and had him stumped by the lightning-quick gloves of Wandile Makwetu.

Codi Yusuf then got Jon-Jon Smuts (1) and Bradley Porteous (0) out with successive deliveries, and an outstanding hat-trick ball just went over off-stump, having completely squared-up Andile Simelane.

Dawood then removed Tshepang Dithole (26) and Simelane (1) to reduce the Dolphins to 81 for six in the 13^th over.

But the return of opener Khaya Zondo, who had retired hurt in the fourth over, to partner captain Prenelan Subrayen, ensured the visitors were not out of the contest as they added 52 off 34 balls. Our DP World Lions had 19 to defend in the final over and Evan Jones held his nerve after his first two deliveries went to the boundary, getting Zondo out for 28 and conceding just one more run.

Young left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka enjoyed more success as he took two for 24 in his four overs, while Yusuf also had a fine evening with two for 24 in his ration of overs.

There was more good news in the depth department when our DP World Lions batted first after winning the toss as Josh Richards, coming in for Reeza Hendricks, who had flown overnight to Abu Dhabi to replace injured Proteas captain and #ThePrideOfJozi superstar Temba Bavuma, laid a good platform with an assured 38 off 32 balls.

Delano Potgieter (32 not out off 29 balls) and Evan Jones, who monstered four sixes in his 29 not out off just 10 deliveries, then piled more misery on to the Dolphins bowlers at the death, adding 42 runs for the unbroken sixth-wicket partnership, off just 23 balls. That took the Lions to 156 for five in their 20 overs, a competitive total on a slowish pitch on which taking pace off brought dividends for the bowlers.

There was more pace in the pitch on Friday night and our DP World Lions produced a magnificent batting display, again after winning the toss, plundering 239 for four, their highest ever total in the competition.

Makwetu received a dreadful blow to the helmet from an accidental Siya Plaatjie beamer, which seemed to inspire the wicketkeeper/batsman as he exploded into action, going from a sedate 23 off 29 balls to a dazzling 55 off 41 deliveries, including five sixes.

Hendricks showed why the Proteas wanted him as he cruised to a classy 41 off 26 balls, hitting three sixes, the second-wicket pair setting the scene for a big finish as they added 75 in seven overs.

And what a finish it was!

Delano Potgieter, who was promoted up the order, smashed 36 off just 15 deliveries, and then captain Mitchell van Buuren and Connor Esterhuizen wowed the crowd with their unbeaten partnership of 87 in just four-and-a-half overs, clobbering eight sixes between them.

Van Buuren scored 41 not out off 16 balls and Esterhuizen showed why he has been entrusted with finishing duties this season, lashing 40 not out off 17 deliveries.

It was a total our DP World Lions defended with ease as they restricted the Warriors to 177 for six.

Maphaka (4-0-29-1) produced a top-class display with the new ball, claiming a key wicket when he bowled Warriors captain Matthew Breetzke (1) with a beauty, and Tshepo Moreki (4-0-27-0) was an excellent partner up front.

It was the leg-spin of Dawood that had the fans all a-twitter thereafter though, as he claimed the other five wickets to fall.

A thrilling weekend of action at the DP World Wanderers Stadium has ensured that our Pride all have shining smiles as they prepare for Wednesday’s visit to Bloemfontein to take on the Knights.