When Asenathi Ntlabakanye runs out in green and gold for his Springbok debut against the Barbarians this Saturday at Cape Town Stadium, it won’t just be the roar of the crowd that hits hard—it’ll be the weight of two years of sweat, sacrifice, and scrum school on a Bloemfontein farm.
Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus pulled back the curtain on the tighthead prop’s journey this week, shedding light on the physical and mental grind that turned a promising front-rower from the Lions into a Test-level contender.
“We’ve had our eye on him for a while,” Erasmus said during Tuesday’s team announcement. “When we started tracking his tackle stats, he was right up there with the best. But we knew we had to fine-tune a few things to get him Bok-ready.”
That fine-tuning happened far from the bright lights—on Daan Human’s farm in the Free State, to be precise. Under the watchful eye of South Africa’s scrum maestro, Ntlabakanye committed to an intense regime of fitness and technical work, often camping out for a week at a time to get it right.
“He’s lost between 15 and 18kgs. That’s massive,” Erasmus revealed. “It’s not just about dropping weight; it’s how you move, how you scrum, how you recover. Daan’s not just coaching – he’s building machines.”
With veteran Frans Malherbe sidelined by injury, the door swung open, and Ntlabakanye charged through. “Franna’s out for a while, and suddenly your No 1 tighthead is gone. That’s when you need depth,” Erasmus said. “Luckily, Asenathi was ready.”
The 26-year-old’s rise echoes a recurring theme in the Springbok setup—turning perceived limitations into strengths. Erasmus drew comparisons to players like Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, often underestimated for their size but giants in heart and skill.
“It works both ways,” he noted. “We’ve had smaller guys who punch well above their weight, and bigger guys like Franna who maybe don’t look the part of a modern athlete but get up, scrum solid, and hit their tackles every time.”
Kamp Daandraad!! pic.twitter.com/NNPlkZ5i4c
— Johan Erasmus (@RassieRugby) June 24, 2025And that’s what excites Erasmus most about Ntlabakanye—not just his brute strength, but his rugby IQ and feel for the game. “He’s got that special touch, like Ox [Nché] and Neethling [Fouché]. When he gets it all together, we could have another world-class tighthead on our hands.”
Beyond the physical, Erasmus praised the broader team effort—from Lions CEO Rudolf Straeuli to Human’s unique conditioning setup. “This wasn’t just a camp job,” he said. “It’s been three-and-a-half weeks of hard graft, plus everything that came before. That’s what’s made the difference.”
The Bok coach is also buoyed by what Ntlabakanye’s emergence means for the bigger picture. With an eye on the 2027 World Cup in Australia, building a next-gen pack is top of mind.
“For the first time, we’re having real conversations about who’ll be there in 2027. Back in 2022, that wasn’t happening. Now it is—and that’s fantastic.”
So when Ntlabakanye locks horns with the Barbarians, he won’t just be representing the Lions or his country. He’ll be carrying the story of a tighthead who swapped comfort for commitment, a farm for a field, and emerged ready to wear the Springbok badge with pride.
