Following Rassie Erasmus’ announcement of the Springboks team to face Argentina in the Rugby Championship, we select our winners and losers.

South Africa will head into the fixture knowing that a single league point will be enough to seal the title but Erasmus is going at the clash full guns blazing, recalling six double Rugby World Cup winners to the starting XV.

The Bok boss has also made some bold decisions overall in promoting three players from the bench from the team that fell to Los Pumas last time out while the nine changes to the starting XV include a positional switch too.

So without out further ado, here are our winners and losers from the Springboks matchday 23 for the final round of the Rugby Championship.

Winners

Eben Etzebeth

Eben Etzebeth is now without a shadow of a doubt a Springboks legend as he will run out for his 128th cap on Saturday, becoming the most capped Bok of all-time.

The world-class lock overtakes his former teammate Victor Matfield as the Springboks’ most capped international and frankly, no player is more deserving than the hulking second-rower. Etzebeth made his Test debut all the way back in 2012 and hits the magnificent career milestone some 12 years later, averaging over 10 internationals per year.

What makes his achievement all the more impressive is not only the fact that he plays an incredibly demanding position but also one where the Springboks are historically blessed with depth. The 32-year-old has also continually improved his game and has become far more of a rounded player than the 20-year-old physical specimen that debuted against England in Durban and spent much of his early career dominating with his physicality and brute force.

One must also not forget that the brilliant second-row missed an entire year of Test rugby in 2020 due to the pandemic and has still surpassed Matfield in a short space of time.

Even as he surpasses the Springboks great, Etzebeth shows no sign of decline and is in fact looking better and better with each passing year. It’s a phenomenal achievement for the lock and only fitting that he will celebrate the occasion in front of a passionate and sold-out stadium on home soil.

Manie Libbok

One last chance? Manie Libbok must surely be running out of credit and fast after missing a clutch penalty to seal the victory over Los Pumas last time out but has got the backing of Erasmus for the Rugby Championship decider.

The Springboks head coach has thrown his full backing behind the playmaker who does offer so much with ball in hand and tactical kicking, but his work off the tee has been his downfall. Erasmus defended the number 10 stating that the game should not have come down to the final, but ultimately it did and Libbok missed and really he shouldn’t have.

According to Opta’s xGK model, the average placekicker would have slotted the kick that Libbok missed 82% of the time while his own predicted success rate was 78% – simply put, it was a shot that he should convert more than four out of five times. Since July 2022, Libbok has had a 63.6% success rate from the tee in Springboks colours and while he does offer so much more around the park, his kicking is clearly a weakness.

The Springboks have been able to get away with it previously by having the likes of Handre Pollard on the bench for the latter stages of the game – which is the case again this week – but Libbok needs to find a fix or his international career will eventually be put on the line. Like it or not, a Springboks fly-half has to be able to kick at goal with few to no other options in the backline. Cheslin Kolbe and Faf de Klerk have stepped in before to kick for the Boks but do not kick at the required 80%+ success rate.

Right now, Libbok has Erasmus’ faith and backing that he will get it right and Saturday is very much a shot at redemption but if he fails to make the most of it, he might be sent away from the squad to sort the issue until he gets it right and becomes more consistent from the tee.

Aphelele Fassi

Speaking of getting sent away to sort a shortcoming in their game, Aphelele Fassi has done just that as his two-year exile from the squad ended in 2024 and he has thrived on his return to international rugby.

The Sharks star made his Test debut in 2021 and earned further caps in 2022 but was omitted from the squads in the two years that followed, with the Bok coaches explaining that he had holes in his game that he needed to plug – most notably his defence.

Having worked hard to rectify those issues, Fassi has been fantastic in 2024 and on Saturday, he will earn his sixth start of the year in Green and Gold. It’s rather telling that the Springboks coaching staff opted to leave Willie le Roux in South Africa for the clash in Argentina and he is the only one of the players who does not return to the team this week. That must surely be down to the fact that Fassi has taken his opportunities in the starting XV and is quickly becoming a regular squad member and starter.

That might change when Damian Willemse returns from his injury but the fact remains that Fassi has done the hard yards and is being rewarded for it.

Returning 𝓈ℯ𝓍tet

Erasmus has not been shy to chop and change his squad this year and five double Rugby World Cup winners have truly benefitted on this occasion, being afforded a week’s rest and not being put through the stress of travelling to South America.

Those players are Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Kolbe and Damian de Allende. Erasmus’ decision to rest these stars and then bring them right back into the mix is a testament to the value they bring to the Green and Gold jersey.

Meanwhile, Siya Kolisi resumes as captain after watching from the coaches’ box in Argentina and hopefully will have taken some learnings from the experience. He has also delayed the operation on his nose fracture that occurred in the first Test match against the All Blacks and gets the chance to lead his side to a Rugby Championship title which would be his first as skipper after missing the 2019 success through injury.

Ruan Nortje

Not selected in July but Ruan Nortje looks like a fully-fletched Springboks starter as he dons the number five jersey for the fifth successive Test match.

Things may change for the Bulls star when several second-rowers return from injury but he has got some unprecedented time in the starting role and has surely impressed the Bok coaching staff. He has one more big opportunity to add more credit in the bank against Los Pumas and if his recent form is anything to go by, he will surely do so.

Springboks fans

Erasmus promised that he would not be putting out an experimental team for the final home Springboks Test of the year and has duly delivered on just that with 13 Rugby World Cup winners from 2023 featuring in the starting XV.

After Bok fans were unable to see their stars in action in 2020 due to the pandemic, they have been treated to world-class match-ups the year after their fourth World Cup title and this weekend is no different.

Felipe Contepomi has taken this Argentina team to new heights, becoming the first Pumas team to knock over the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks in the same calendar year and on Saturday they will look to make it back-to-back against a powerhouse Bok outfit.

Losers

Handre Pollard

Libbok’s gaffe in the latter stages of the last Test match must be the reasoning behind Pollard dropping to the bench even if Erasmus is not willing to publicly admit it. The veteran Bok fly-half was excellent in the first half against the Pumas but looked to be running out of steam as he chased back to cover the backfield when South Africa were down a man.

Pollard still remains a clutch player for the Springboks and a ruthless competitor who would love to play the full 80 minutes but this week he takes his place in the Bomb Squad as the chief defuser.

Willie le Roux

As mentioned above, it is quite a nod to Fassi’s form that veteran Bok Le Roux is omitted from the team entirely.

Le Roux is three caps short of becoming the eighth player to reach 100 Test caps for the Springboks but will have to wait until November at least if is to reach the milestone.

Erasmus has stated that the full-back is unlikely to make the next World Cup but surely the Bok boss will find three more internationals for the fantastic servant of South African rugby to join the illustrious 100 cap club.

Salmaan Moerat

After captaining the side in defeat, Salmaan Moerat drops out of the team entirely as he is replaced in the starting XV by Etzebeth.

Etzebeth’s elevation to the starting line-up was always going to happen for this match but Moerat would have hoped that he claim a spot on the bench. Alas, it was not to be as Erasmus opted for the back-row duo of Elrigh Louw and Kwagga Smith – a tactic he has backed in the last three Test matches.

Marco van Staden

After getting a well-deserved start against Los Pumas last weekend, Marco van Staden drops out of the team entirely for the rematch. The livewire openside flanker has impressed when given the opportunity in Green and Gold this year but made some glaring errors on defence last weekend despite shining at the breakdown which is his forte.

Thomas du Toit

It’s tough being a Springboks tighthead prop with Malherbe and Vincent Koch still churning out world-class performances at the highest level and there is no clearer indication of that than Thomas du Toit dropping out of the team once again.

The Bath star was solid in the scrums last week and impressed around the park but has again dropped out with his omission having little to do with his individual performances. He will now turn his focus to the Premiership and look to force his way up the pecking order for the November internationals.

Johan Grobbelaar

Unfortunately, Johan Grobbelaar features as a loser again after he travelled with the Boks to Argentina and failed to make the matchday 23 with Jan-Hendrik Wessels favoured. Fast forward a week and Malcolm Marx and Mbonambi fill the two hooker roles in the squad.

Much like with Du Toit, Grobbelaar is simply in a hotly contested position with two experienced world-class operators ahead of him. His time in the Bok jersey is far from over but he will hope that he can press a claim for more regular minutes in the Northern Hemisphere.

Ben-Jason Dixon

In and out of the matchday 23 as Ben-Jason Dixon is a victim of Erasmus’ tinkering. There is no doubt that he is held in high regard by the Springboks coaches but he will have loved to get one more shift in before the squad breaks up and return to their respective clubs.

Nico Janse van Rensburg

After being called into the squad ahead of the back-to-back Test matches against the All Blacks, Nico Janse van Rensburg returns to Montpellier with the same cap tally he left with, one.

The Montpellier star was called into the squad to ease the Springboks’ locking crisis but did not get an opportunity to stake a claim for further involvement with Nortje thriving in the role. Like with the Bulls star, it will be interesting to see if the forward gets another look into the team once the likes of RG Snyman, Jean Kleyn and Franco Mostert return from injury.

Victor Matfield

A happy loser as Matfield graciously praised Etzebeth who takes over the legendary Springboks’ tag as the most capped Bok player of all-time.

Matfield has been full of praise for Etzebeth likening him to his long-time locking partner Bakkies Botha.

“I’ve always said it that I was lucky to play with Bakkies. You always want that one guy that when you run onto the field, the other pack know there’s no chance you’re taking on this one guy because he’s always stronger, he will always put you on the back foot,” Matfield said on Final Whistle Presents Side Entry on SuperSport.

“That’s what Eben’s been giving this pack, for the last 10 years now; just giving you that physical ability to put you on the front foot – he will never take a step back – and you want a guy like that in your team.”