Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth has been cleared to face New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg on Saturday. This is after completing all the training sessions this week and has been drafted onto the replacements bench for the Castle Lager Rugby Championship encounter. 

Rassie Erasmus has released four players to their Carling Currie Cup teams to get some valuable game time this weekend.

ALSO READ: DStv Diski Challenge returns for its 10th season

Etzebeth was initially excluded from the Boks’ match-23 for the first of two Tests against their southern hemisphere arch-rivals due to an injury concern earlier in the week. He replaces Marco van Staden on the bench, which offers the team specialist lock cover for the starting combination of Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ruan Nortje. Should he get game time, the Test will mark Etzebeth’s 125th in the green and gold jersey.

It will see him leapfrog Bryan Habana as the second most capped Springbok of all time and take one step closer to Victor Matfield’s Springbok Test record of 127 caps.

“Our selection policy has always been that if a player does not train on a Monday he will not play on Saturday, but Eben has made it through training pain-free all week, so we had to make the tough call to name him in the squad at the expense of Marco,” said Erasmus.

Meanwhile, Erasmus released four players – Steven Kitshoff (prop), Manie Libbok (flyhalf), Canan Moodie and Makazole Mapimpi (both wings) – to their provincial unions on Wednesday afternoon to get game time in the Carling Currie Cup this weekend.

REVISED SPRINGBOK TEAM TO FACE NEW ZEALAND EBEN ETZEBETH IS CLEARED TO PLAY 

15 – Aphelele Fassi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 6 caps, 15 points (3t)

14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Suntory Sungoliath) – 35 caps, 96 points (15t, 3c, 5p)

13 – Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 73 caps, 80 points (16t)

12 –Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 82 caps, 55 points (11t)

11 – Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls) – 19 caps, 85 points (17t)

10 – Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 6 caps, 33 points (12c, 3p)

9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 34 caps, 65 points (13t)

8 – Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 27 caps, 5 points (1t)

7 – Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers) – 3 caps, 5 points (1t)

6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Racing 92) – 86 caps, 55 points (11t)

5 – Ruan Nortje (Vodacom Bulls) – 2 caps, 0 points

4 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz) – 81 caps, 45 points (9t)

3 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 73 caps, 5 points (1t)

2 – Bongi Mbonambi (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 72 caps, 70 points (14t)

1 – Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 33 caps, 0 points

Replacements:

16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 69 caps, 95 points (19t)

17 – Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 4 caps, 0 points

18 – Vincent Koch (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 54 caps, 0 points

19 – Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 124 caps, 30 points (6t)

20 – Elrigh Louw (Vodacom Bulls) – 6 caps, 0 points

21 – Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs) – 45 caps, 40 points (8t)

22 – Grant Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 13 caps, 10 points (2t)

23 – Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers) – 73 caps, 734 points (7t, 99c, 162p, 5dg)