Springboks Bring In Reinforcements

Leinster Full-back Zane Kirchner and Hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle have been added to the South Africa squad for their Rugby Championship matches in Australia and New Zealand.

The 26 men who travelled to Argentina have all been retained, with Kirchner and Ralepelle the only additions.

Ralepelle missed the Argentina trip because of a back injury but he will board the plane for Australia provided he passes a late fitness test.

The Springboks – who beat the Pumas home and away and top the table on points difference from the All Blacks – will take on Australia in Brisbane on 7 September and then New Zealand in Auckland on 14 September.

Coach Heyneke Mayer said: “This will be two tough weeks on the road against two of the best sides in the world and as we saw last weekend against Argentina, we still have a lot of hard work to do.

“The Springboks have never beaten Australia at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and our last victory at Eden Park was in 1937.

“Australia may have lost their first two matches of Rugby, but they showed a marked improvement last weekend in Wellington.

“They are always a tough opponent at home – the Springboks’ last victory over there was in 2009 and we’ve only won three out of 18 matches in this competition in Australia.

“We get together on Thursday and will have to put in a lot of hard work in the next 10 days. We let ourselves down in certain areas of the game in Mendoza and will have to fix those if we are going to be competitive against Australia.”

Forwards: Lourens Adriaanse, Willem Alberts, Marcell Coetzee, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Juandre Kruger, Francois Louw, Tendai Mtawarira, Coenie Oosthuizen, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Gurthrö Steenkamp, Adriaan Strauss, Flip van der Merwe, Duane Vermeulen

Backs: Bjorn Basson, Jean de Villiers (capt), JJ Engelbrecht, Bryan Habana, Zane Kirchner, Patrick Lambie, Willie le Roux, Ruan Pienaar, Jan Serfontein, Morne Steyn, Piet van Zyl, Jano Vermaak.

*Source: Sky Sports