Springboks alignment camp: winners and losers from Rassie Erasmus’ selection announced.
Following the announcement of the 54 players invited to the second Springbok alignment camp, we pick out our winners and losers from Rassie Erasmus’ selections.
It’s worth noting straight off the bat that while the camps do give an insight into who the Springboks coaches have on their selection radar, players who have been omitted and, by the same token, invited are not guaranteed to be selected in the squads later this year.
A notable example of this is livewire winger Edwill van der Merwe, who was not involved in any camps in the build-up to the 2024 international season but went on to start the first Test match of the year against Wales, scoring a try on his debut.
So, without further ado, here are our winners and losers from the Springboks alignment camp invitees.
Winners
Ntokozo Makhaza
Erasmus always manages to spring a surprise or two when it comes to squad selections, but the call-up for Ntokozo Makhaza is perhaps his most astonishing to date.
Makhaza is yet to play a fully-fledged professional match of rugby having just signed a deal to join the Cheetahs ahead of the Currie Cup, but the Ikeys Tigers star lit up the Varsity Cup and certainly caught the eye of the coaching team.
The 23-year-old is the latest pocket rocket winger to be called into the Springboks squad under Erasmus’ tutelage, following in the footsteps of Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Van der Merwe.
While a Test bow before a professional debut seems unlikely, don’t write it off completely. Throwing a bolter like Makhaza into a match against the Barbarians would be rather fitting, if even too soon, but there are signs that he is an incredibly talented player. He is the ultimate bolter, even if it is just for an alignment camp.
Makhaza capped off another memorable season in the Varsity Cup season, scoring twice in the final as the Cape-based side defeated Maties 44-21 and was named the competition’s Player of the Year.
The winger also offers a deadly accurate boot and is the Varsity Cup’s all-time leading points scorer.
It’s always difficult to reduce the size of the squad with the abundance of talent in South African rugby, but we were limited in the number of players we could select for the camp, and we are confident that we have sufficient cover in all positions within this group,” Erasmus explained.
SA Rugby confirms that the camp will include a series of boardroom sessions over the two days as the Boks gear up for the international season, which kicks off on Saturday 28 June with the first-ever home game between the Springboks and Barbarians.
