Rassie Erasmus has named one of his coaches among the replacements in his matchday squad to face Wales
South Africa could field one of their coaches against Wales this weekend after naming 39-year-old Duane Vermeulen among their reserves for the Test in Cardiff.
Vermeulen hung up his boots after the 2023 Rugby World Cup final win over New Zealand and has been part of Rassie Erasmus’ coaching ticket ever since.
Saturday’s match has caused controversy, with both the hosts and world champions set to be without a plethora of players due to the game falling outside of World Rugby’s international window.
Wales will be shorn of 13 players based in England and France, while the Boks have seen a number of their squad return to their club sides around the world.
Still, Erasmus has named a formidable-looking squad for the date at the Principality Stadium and has gone for a 7-1 split on the bench – which has Vermeulen on it as the 25th man – which means the veteran is available, should he be needed.
The head coach says they are just two injuries away from that scenario playing out.
“The team selection, I don’t think we planned at the beginning of the year to go 7-1 against them,” Erasmus said. “It’s actually the only guys available after discussing with out franchises.
“It was almost forced on us. Player 24 is [Ntuthko] Mchunu and player 25 is Duane Vermeulen. One injury and [Mchunu] is in and another injury and Duane is in.
“That’s a chance we were willing to take for our franchises and for them to have a proper start in the URC.
“So we kind of rolled the dice because we really only have 24 players with us. Ntuthuko Mchunu is the 24th player, and Duane Vermeulen is currently the 25th if we get an injury before Saturday.
“We only have two scrum-halves here, and Damian [Willemse] covers fly-half.”
Vermeulen retired with 76 Test caps after the final in Paris two years ago.
South Africa: Damian Willemse; Ethan Hooker, Damian de Allende, Andre Esterhuizen, Canan Moodie; Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Morne van den Berg; Gerhard Steenkamp, Johan Grobbelaar, Wilco Louw, Jean Kleyn, Ruan Nortje, Siya Kolisi (Captain), Franco Mostert, Jasper Wiese.
Replacements: Bongi Mbonambi, Zachary Porthen, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Eben Etzebeth, Marco van Staden, Ben Jason-Dixon, Kwagga Smith, Cobus Reinach.
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