Portugal’s Wolves are honger vir ‘n… BOK SKOK
|Published
Picking a young team led by first-time captain Salmaan Moerat, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus warns his manne that they can’t underestimate Portugal.
Portugal will take the field against world champions South Africa for the first time in a rugby match at Free State Stadium tomorrow at 5pm.
Ranked 15th in the world and up against a team they are only used to seeing play on television, Os Lobos (The Wolves) are in South Africa to wys the Springboks who they are.
After beating former Springbok coach Allister Coetzee’s Namibia side 37-22 last weekend, Portugal captain Tomas Appleton tells Rugby 365: “You don’t want to put them [the Springboks] on a pedestal, as we are conscious that we want to show the world that we are taking this very seriously.
“And we want to shock the world every time we step onto the pitch.”
Picking a young team led by first-time captain Salmaan Moerat, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus warns his manne that they can’t underestimate Portugal.
Monumental 🙌
— Springboks (@Springboks) July 19, 2024
Rassie is ready for Portugal 🇵![CDATA[]]>🇹
Watch episode 5 of Rassie on Alles 📹#ForeverGreenForeverGold#Springboks pic.twitter.com/HW8lQhtjjm
Erasmus says he was told by Ireland’s manne on their two-match tour of South Africa that ended in a 1-1 draw last week that Portugal beat them in a friendly chukkas game ahead of last year’s World Cup in France.
The Wolves went on to beat Fiji 24-23 and also had Australian paaping before going down 34-14.
Erasmus knows they will be up for tomorrow’s clash and says: “Portugal can’t be underestimated. They beat Fiji, so if any of these guys take this game lightly we will see that they are not Test match material.”
ICYMI: @PortugalRugby head coach Simon Mannix as named his side for Saturday's historic Test against the #Springboks in Bloem - more here: https://t.co/fOf9toK9AW 🇵![CDATA[]]>🇹 pic.twitter.com/z0RSikC1PE
— Springboks (@Springboks) July 18, 2024
Springboks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Ruan Venter,20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Quan Horn.
A new #Springboks captain and an exciting bunch of uncapped players will face Portugal in Bloem on Saturday - more here: https://t.co/L77Y6DgLsv 🤩#ForverGreenForeverGold pic.twitter.com/uJd3t3XyUB
— Springboks (@Springboks) July 16, 2024