{"id":737708,"date":"2026-08-14T11:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T11:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/737708\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T11:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T11:36:10","slug":"rassie-erasmus-releases-springboks-pair-for-bulls-duty-forcing-johan-ackermann-into-late-changes-for-all-blacks-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/737708\/","title":{"rendered":"Rassie Erasmus releases Springboks pair for Bulls duty, forcing Johan Ackermann into late changes for All Blacks showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bulls<\/a> have been bolstered by the addition of two Springboks ahead of the Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry tour match against the All Blacks.<\/p>\n

The Pretoria-based side have confirmed that Rassie Erasmus has released forwards Elrigh Louw and Johan Grobbelaar for the clash against Dave Rennie\u2019s men.<\/p>\n

Springboks added to Bulls bench for All Blacks showdown<\/p>\n

This has forced head coach Johan Ackermann into late changes for the clash, with the pair being included on the bench. The Bulls have confirmed that Louw has replaced Mpilo Gumede in the 20 jersey while Grobbelaar has come in for Jaundre Schoeman as the replacement hooker.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to have them with us, and we\u2019re looking forward to the challenge,\u201d head coach Ackermann said.<\/p>\n

The Bulls added that the duo have been included on the bench because they had just had a single training session with the team after travelling back from Argentina.<\/p>\n

Louw and Grobbelaar both started for the Springboks in their 17-10 victory over Los Pumas.<\/p>\n

The remainder of the Bulls team remained unchanged with six Springboks now included in the matchday 23. Veteran full-back Willie Le Roux starts in the number 15 jersey with new signing Thaakir Abrahams named on the right wing and Stravino Jacobs on the left.<\/p>\n

Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry: Ranking the top 10 players so far as \u2018truly remarkable\u2019 Springboks veteran edges Jordie Barrett at the summit<\/a><\/p>\n

All Blacks team: Five takeaways as Dave Rennie\u2019s \u2018bizarre\u2019 selections could be a \u2018masterstroke\u2019 for Springboks series<\/a><\/p>\n

Harold Vorster and Stedman Gans are the starting centres with two-Test Springbok Curwin Bosch debuting for the Bulls in the number 10 shirt, partnering Embrose Papier in the halfbacks.<\/p>\n

Marcell Coetzee will face the All Blacks for the fifth time as he captains the side from the number six jersey, and he is joined by Hanro Liebenberg and Jeandre Rudolph in the loose trio. JF van Heerden, Ruan Vermaak, Francois Klopper, Juann Else, and Alu Tshakweni complete the pack.<\/p>\n

Dave Rennie reveals the Richie Mo\u2019unga decision that delayed his All Blacks recall: \u2018He could have been eligible from the start\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Updated Bulls team v New Zealand<\/p>\n

Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Thaakir Abrahams, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Juann Else, 1 Alu Tshakweni
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Khuta Mchunu, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Katlego Letebele, 23 Hakeem Kunene<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Date: Saturday, 15 August 2026
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19:10 (local SAST), 18:10 (UK), 19:10 (France), 19:10 (South Africa), 03:10 (16 August, AEST), 05:10 (16 August, New Zealand), 14:10 (Argentina), 02:10 (16 August, JST), 13:10 (EDT)
How to watch: Sky Sports (UK and Ireland), Sky Sport \/ Sky Sport Now (New Zealand), SuperSport (South Africa), Stan Sport \/ Nine Sport (Australia), RugbyPass TV (USA), Premier Sports (Canada), WOWOW (Japan), ESPN Sur (Central\/South America and Caribbean)
Referee: Nika Amashukeli (GRU)
Assistant Referees: Karl Dickson (RFU) and Matthew Carley (RFU)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (FFR)
FPRO: Mike Adamson (SRU)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \u2018It\u2019s not just the Springboks\u2019 \u2013 All Blacks great reveals \u2018admiration\u2019 for South African rugby over contrasting \u2018mentalities\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bulls have been bolstered by the addition of two Springboks ahead of the Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry tour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[88635,348,3482,50,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-737708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-bulls","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}