Eoin Harrington reporting from South Africa’s team announcement

Rassie Erasmus faced his old friends in the Irish media on Thursday afternoon, after naming his team for Saturday’s mega clash between South Africa and Ireland in the Aviva Stadium.

Leinster lock RG Snyman is set for his 50th cap for the Boks, but has been consigned to a bench role once again by Erasmus, as Eben Etzebeth and Ruan Nortje start in the second-row.

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The #Springboks will take on Ireland with an experienced side as RG Snyman locks in on 50 Test caps – more here: https://t.co/Y3eCk9JRsV 😤#ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/3inLtGN4Za

— Springboks (@Springboks) November 20, 2025

Andy Farrell, too, named his Ireland team on Saturday, with the big call seeing him name Sam Prendergast in the starting XV ahead of Jack Crowley.

Though there was plenty of talk on the respective team selections, perhaps the biggest revelation from Thursday’s South Africa press conference saw Rassie Erasmus strongly hint that Jacques Nienaber will return to the Springboks setup when his contract with Leinster ends.

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Rassie Erasmus addresses media ahead of Ireland v Springboks

A World Cup-winning coach with South Africa, Jacques Nienaber’s impact at Leinster has been widely hailed since he joined their coaching staff in late 2023.

Nienaber recently signed a contract extension that will see him stay with the province until the conclusion of the 2026-27 season.

However, Nienaber has this week revealed he “misses” the Springboks setup, only adding to the speculation he could return to the camp ahead of the 2027 World Cup.

“I’ll be out of contract at the start of the international season in the southern hemisphere. So, you never know how things will work out,” Nienaber said this week.

His old partner Rassie Erasmus did not dampen that fire with his take on the situation at Thursday’s press conference.

I see a world where…

I had lunch with him yesterday, we always see each other whenever there’s an opportunity. When he comes to South Africa or we flew over here.

But no, we would never want to ruin his relationship and reputation here in Ireland…but if Jacques tells me, or Ireland allow him to consult in the year of 2027, and we have the money to afford him in that year, there’s no egos in our management coaching team.

A brain like him will…but I think the Irish might also use him, or the English might use him if he’s got that. I don’t know what his contacts say exactly, but yes, we will have a look at that.

Rassie’s relationship with the Northern Hemisphere media has been infamously tetchy down through the years.

Despite acknowledging the frosty rapport he enjoys with the Irish and European media, Erasmus was keen to dispel any notion there is anything “personal” between him specifically and Ireland.

“If we’re talking about me, then we’re totally talking about the wrong things,” Erasmus said when asked if Ireland was ‘the’ game for him on a personal level.

If it’s like for me a personal, no.

I’ve always noticed it’s nice and spicy when people can build it up as this thing between me and Ireland.

I think if you talk to most of the Irish coaches and people – maybe not the pundits so much, I don’t think they enjoy me so much! – But I think if you talk to the players, I’ve got no two ways about it. The things that I learned here in Ireland was something that ‘I want to take this back to South Africa’, and I think I’ve been quoted many times on that.

I can’t say that’s personal. It’s more the respect that I’ve learned here for the discipline and how they do things and the precision farming they do here with a lot of players.

It’s something we envy, and I really try to get that also right in South Africa, and it’s more if we get a win here, then it means our South African set-up, our players, our coaching team, we got it right eventually.

We won World Cups and the British & Irish Lions Series so making it personal for me, that would be totally the wrong way. It’s not me who has got a thing to settle or anything like that. I learned a hell of a lot from the guys here.

Even if it has been a difficult 2025 for Andy Farrell’s Ireland, they will still pose a major threat to Rassie Erasmus and South Africa in what is the headline fixture of this round of Autumn Internationals.

Indeed, a test win in Dublin is perhaps all that is left for the All-Blacks-conquering, World Cup-winning Rassie.

“It definitely comes up. I’m not going to lie to you and say it doesn’t come up,” Eramus said of his record in Dublin.

“I did win here as a player, but that was many years ago. So that doesn’t count and it wasn’t at the Aviva…I haven’t won at the Aviva as a coach, even with Munster…I think we’ve coached here three times and we haven’t won here.

“But, we played at Ellis Park, and Australia hadn’t beaten us for years there. They came there and they beat us. But life moved on and we played the All Blacks the next weekend and then a week later we gave them one of the biggest scores in the history of the game.”

There is a big Irish influence in the Springboks camp, and Rassie revealed that Irish coaches Felix Jones, Paddy Sullivan and Jerry Flannery had brought the South African camp along for one of Ireland’s great sporting moments over the weekend.

Rassie Erasmus reveals Irish trio had squad watching Hungary drama

South Africa arrive to an Ireland enthralled in sporting glory after the drama of our soccer team’s back-to-back victories over Portugal and Hungary to reach the World Cup playoffs.

Rassie Erasmus confirmed he and the squad were aware of the special energy around Irish sport this week, revealing that Irish coaching trio Felix Jones, Jerry Flannery, and Paddy Sullivan forced the Springboks squad to watch Sunday’s remarkable decider against Hungary.

Rassie Erasmus has revealed that Jerry Flannery, Felix Jones and Paddy Sullivan had the Springboks squad watching Ireland v Hungary on Sunday#rugby #football #ireland #southafrica pic.twitter.com/Fz45XimmxW

— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) November 20, 2025

“We watched that game,” Erasmus said when asked if he was aware of the sporting week Ireland has had.

Jerry [Flannery] is with us, Paddy [Sullivan] is with us, and Felix [Jones] is with us. We were watching that game, we were in different stages, and some guys were on a plane.

But we were watching the game, you guys just beat them. We know all about that, and you guys have qualified…the guys were really proud.

For us, it’s massive coming here. We know what the vibe is going to be like on Saturday, it’s fantastic.

We see it as much of a privilege.

When it was put to Rassie that the Irish sporting public are hungry for another big scalp, he delivered a classically bizarre line.

“We understand that we’re the red meat that you guys want to eat, so we must hide away and see how we can get past your mouths,” Erasmus quipped.

Irish fans will certainly hope that Andy Farrell and the Ireland rugby team can come close to replicating the heroics of Troy Parrott and co. in Budapest come Saturday evening.

Ireland v South Africa kicks off in the Aviva Stadium at 5:40pm on Saturday, with the game live on RTÉ 2 and TNT Sports 1.

More to come from the South Africa camp

South Africa team to face Ireland

15 Damian Willemse
14 Canan Moodie
13 Jesse Kriel
12 Damian de Allende
11 Cheslin Kolbe
10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
9 Cobus Reinach

1 Boan Venter
2 Malcolm Marx
3 Thomas du Toit
4 Eben Etzebeth
5 Ruan Nortje
6 Siya Kolisi (captain)
7 Pieter-Steph Du Toit
8 Jasper Wiese

Replacements: Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Wilco Louw, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Andre Esterhuizen, Grant Williams, Manie Libbok

SEE ALSO: Who’s In And Who’s Out As Ireland Team Named For Mega South Africa Game