South Africa have named 12 2023 Rugby World Cup final-winning players in their starting XI for their opening match against Ireland on Saturday.
Scrum-half Faf de Klerk was a doubt for the opening game due to injury but has been deemed fit to start.
Handre Pollard, who took four penalties in the 12–11 win over New Zealand, was named at fly-half.
Fullback Willie le Roux, back-rower Kwagga Smith and prop Ox Ntche, all starters for Pretoria, all came off the bench in the World Cup final.
Of the match-day squad against Ireland, only reserve players Gerhard Stenekamp, Salman Mourat and Sascha Feinberg-Mngomezil did not play in the final.
The Springboks are missing a number of players including Makazole Mapimpi, Damien Willems, Steven Kitshoff and locks Jan Klein and Ruud de Jager.
“I believe this team will give us the momentum we need to take on Ireland, who are ranked second in the world,” said Erasmus, who opted to use a 6-2 split on his bench.
“We are blessed with a lot of depth in our squad and are in the fortunate position of having several Rugby World Cup winners who know what it takes to perform at the highest level.”
“It helps us that most of the players have experience playing together. Most of them have played against Ireland before and they understand the challenge ahead, especially as we haven’t beaten them since 2016.
Ireland have never won a Test series in South Africa but are the only team to have beaten the Springboks 13-8 in the pool stages of a World Cup in Paris.
Andy Farrell is due to announce his squad for the opening game on Thursday.
South Africa: W le Roux, C Kolbe, J Kriel, D de Allende, KL Arendse, H Pollard, F de Klerk, O Nche, B Mbonambi, F Malherbe, E Etzebeth, F Mostert, S Kolisi (captain), PS du Toit, K Smith.
ReplacementIn: M Marx, G Steenekamp, V Koch, S Moerat, RG Snyman, M van Staden, G Williams, S Feinberg-Mngomezulu.