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South Africa has named a 40-man roster to prepare for 2023 international activities. The reigning World Champions will play six matches before the World Cup. Two of the six will be against Argentina. The roster will begin on-field preparations on Monday.
South Africa open their World Cups defense against Scotland in Marseille. The Springboks will subsequently face Romania in Bordeaux, Ireland in Paris and return to Marseille to face Tonga. The African country is favorites to win the group.
Getting there is what is now the focus. The Springboks will open their 2023 fixtures at home against Australia. The match will be on Saturday, July 08 in Pretoria. It will be followed by a long haul to New Zealand; South Africa face the All Blacks at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland on July 15.
South Africa then face Argentina home-and-away. The first match will be part of the Rugby Championship while the second will strictly be a RWC warm-up match. South Africa host Los Pumas in Johannesburg and subsequently face Argentina in Buenos Aires. From there the Springboks will travel north to face Wales in Cardiff and New Zealand in London.
They will then play three Rugby World Cup warm-up matches: against Argentina in Buenos Aires (Saturday, 5 August), Wales in Cardiff (Saturday, 19 August) and New Zealand in London (Friday, 25 August) before departing for the Rugby World Cup in France.
Nienaber will begin with a 40-man roster with 33 being the final number for the World Cup. The roster is actually 41 players, however. Jean Kleyn has been named. South Africa are awaiting World Rugby’s permission for the South African player to play for South Africa.
Click here to access a detailed list of players who can change countries / allegiance for Rugby World Cup 2023.
Kleyn was poached by Ireland. He was brought from South Africa to play for Munster in 2016. This was done with the specific objective of him playing for Ireland. He qualified in 2019 and debuting immediately. Kleyn earned five caps for Ireland, one included starting against Russia at the World Cup. Russia was entirely homegrown but up against powerful opposition with roster boosted via eligibility laws.
Kleyn’s final cap for Ireland was against Samoa on October 12, 2019. This means that he became eligible for South Africa as of October 12, 2022. This is against the backdrop of Romania’s RWC 2019 and Spain’s RWC 2023 disqualifications. World Rugby’s controversial eligibility law changes have even seen a homegrown World Cup Wallaby now playing for Scotland via a grandparent.
SOUTH AFRICA – 2023 FIXTURES
2023 Rugby Championship
Sat, July 08 – 
vs 
(Pretoria, ZA)
Sat, July 15 – vs 
( Auckland, NZ)
Sat, July 29 – vs 
(Johannesburg, ZA)
RUGBY WORLD CUP WARM-UP
Sat, August 05 – vs (Buenos Aires, AR)
Sat, August 19 – 
vs (Cardiff, UK)
Fri, August 25 – vs (London, UK)
RUGBY WORLD CUP 2023
Sun, September 10 – vs 
(Marseille, FR)
Sun, September 17 – vs 
(Bordeaux, FR)
Sat, September 23 – vs 
(Paris, FR)
Sun, October 01 – vs 
(Marseille, FR)
SOUTH AFRICA 2023 ROSTER
PROP
Thomas du Toit (Sharks), Steven Kitshoff (Stormers), Vincent Koch (Stade Français, FR), Frans Malherbe (Stormers), Ox Nche (Sharks), Trevor Nyakane (Racing 92, FR)
HOOKER
Joseph Dweba (Stormers), Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears, JP), Bongi Mbonambi (Sharks).
SECOND-ROW
Lood de Jager (Wild Knights, JP), Eben Etzebeth (Sharks), Franco Mostert (Honda Heat, JP), Marvin Orie (Stormers), RG Snyman (Munster, IE)
BACK-ROW
Jean-Luc du Preez (Sale Sharks, UK), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz, JP), Deon Fourie (Stormers), Siya Kolisi (Sharks), Evan Roos (Stormers), Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs, JP), Marco van Staden (Bulls), Duane Vermeulen (Ulster, IE), Jasper Wiese (Leicester, UK)
SCRUM-HALF
Faf de Klerk (Canon Eagles, JP), Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks), Herschel Jantjies (Stormers), Cobus Reinach (Montpellier, FR), Grant Williams (Sharks)
FLY HALF
Manie Libbok (Stormers), Handre Pollard (Leicester, UK), Damian Willemse (Stormers)
CENTER
Lukhanyo Am (Sharks), Damian de Allende (Wild Knights, JP), Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins, UK), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles, JP)
BACK-THREE
Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls), Cheslin Kolbe (Toulon, FR), Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz, JP), Makazole Mapimpi (Sharks), Canan Moodie (Bulls)
