Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says he is pleased to have handed the captaincy role to youngster Salmaan Moerat ahead of the historic Test match against Portugal on Saturday.
South Africa and Portugal will collide at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.
The clash is dubbed a historic event because it will be the first time the Boks will have their match refereed by a woman. Scotland’s Hollie Davidson will be taking the whistle.
Erasmus named his final squad, which saw a host of changes from the team that played back-to-back matches against Ireland. Seven of the uncapped players have been included in the team. Six of them are in the starting lineup.
Uncapped players
The uncapped players are former Junior Springbok captain Phepsi Buthelezi (flanker), Johan Grobbelaar (hooker) and Jan-Hendrik Wessels (prop), while Andre-Hugo Venter (hooker), Ruan Venter (loose forward), Morne van den Berg (scrumhalf) and Quan Horn (fullback) could be in line to make their Test debuts from the replacements’ bench.
The 26-year-old Moerat becomes the 66th Springbok captain – and the third in four tests this year. This as he makes the step up having previously led SA Schools, the Junior Springboks and the Stormers.
Erasmus said he was pleased to be able to hand the captaincy to Moerat. His track record as a captain was a testament to his abilities as a fine leader, he added.
Salmaan up for the big job
“Salmaan commands respect from his teammates, so we’d like to congratulate him on this achievement. And we have no doubt that he’ll take on this responsibility as well as he has for the other teams he has led,” Erasmus said via SA Rugby media.
“He has come through the SA Rugby ranks and he went on to captain the Junior Springboks and SA Schools teams. [As well as] the Stormers and Western Province, which speaks volumes about his quality as a player and a captain.”
Portugal has been steadily climbing the world rankings. It rose from 27th at the start of 2019 to their present ranking of 15th. And they made a notable impression at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Portugal can’t be undermined
“Portugal are a quality team as we saw with their victory against Fiji in the World Cup. This while they also drew their clash against Georgia 18-18,” Erasmus said.
“It was important for us to select a quality team with a bunch of experienced players. While at the same time delivering on our objective of growing our squad depth by naming a few debutants.”
