This weekend’s Springbok match against Japan wasn’t initially in the schedule for 2025, but Rassie very much wanted it though to kick start the end of year tour.
Many thought it was perhaps to give the Boks a gentle opener, and a chance to try a few combinations. The team selection suggests otherwise though, and it’s very much full steam ahead against a Japan team that just narrowly lost to the Wallabies.
This weekend’s test match lineup
Upcoming fixtures
(Match time GMT+2)
Saturday 1st November
England vs Australia 17:10
South Africa vs Japan (Wembley) 18:10
Scotland vs USA 19:40
Ireland vs New Zealand 22:10
Teeing up for the challenge ahead
As much as the Boks aren’t taking Japan lightly, the importance of the test goes a little deeper. Next weekend the Boks play France, pretty much their toughest test on this tour. To go into this challenge with a good run out the week before is vital then.
Which then suggests if there is a match on tour where players may be given more of a ‘chance’, it will be the final match against the Welsh.
In another less obvious move, but what looks like a ‘Rassie play’, playing Japan this week means that Siya Kolisi has the opportunity to play his 100th test against the French.
At this level of the game these players are the ultimate professionals. Motivation is baked into attendance, but in the truly big matches, your captain running on for his 100th test will mean something.
Not only for Kolisi, but every single Bok on the field who is playing for his captain and country like never before.
The step up from the Rugby Championship
There are various things that make the end of year tour so difficult for the Boks and the rest of the southern hemisphere nations in the big games (England, Ireland and France).
Firstly the conditions are naturally a little less friendly for their style of play. Softer conditions, greater chance of rain, and of course the cold. Sure, all things New Zealand can give you just about any day of the year, but it’s the general heaviness of it all which is something to conjure with.
Then you have the traditional stronghold venues, with the palpable national pride of the opposition firmly against you. In one off test environments, the Rugby Championship is almost friendly compared to this really.
These conditions always just seem to lend themselves to tighter games, and ones where discipline and structures play more of a part than individual brilliance. It’s certainly not a place you ever want to chase a game in, and you really have to fight for every inch.
Then there is just the north vs south dynamic. The teams that win the World Cups, vs the teams that wish they could win a World Cup. It may sound a bit petty, but it’s certainly something that has added some extra heat in these matches recently.
Back to the match at hand
Everything we have touched on above, and naturally so much more will have been covered by Rassie and the team. With below being the particular team running out on Saturday:
1: Ox Nche
2: Malcolm Marx
3: Zachary Porthen
4: RG Snyman
5: Lood de Jager
6: Siya Kolisi
7: Franco Mostert
8: Jasper Wiese
9: Cobus Reinach
10: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
11: Kurt-Lee Arendse
12: Damian De Allende
13: Jesse Kriel
14: Ethan Hooker
15: Cheslin Kolbe
Replacements:
16: Johan Grobbelaar
17: Gerhard Steenekamp
18: Wilco Louw
19: Ruan Nortje
20: Andre Esterhuizen
21: Kwagga Smith
22: Grant Williams
23: Manie Libbok
Who is Zachary Porthen?
In a battle hardened and fearsome team, it’s quite incredible that Zachery Porthen has been given a chance at tighthead. All of 21 years of age, in the most hardcore engine room in all of rugby, he is the youngest Bok prop since Ollie le Roux made his debut in 1994.
Though young, he has pretty much done everything he could have done so far in his career. Head prefect and first team player at Wynberg Boys High School, he went on to captain the SA schools side in 2022 and represented SA u20 in 2023 and 2025. Since then he has been part of the WP and Stormers set up and at 6 ft 2 and 124kgs, you would say he already looks the part.
Make a bold selection of your own
This test window is five Saturdays of Bok rugby back to back. The perfect time then to make the necessary selections with regards to your next Avante purchase.
Whether you want something bold and mature over ice, or want to keep things light with your favourite mixer on game day, the Avante range has something for you that is just a click away.