Rassie Erasmus: Why Handre Pollard Starts vs All Blacks 2026

Rassie Erasmus has admitted he is not fielding the team he wanted for Saturday's second Rugby's Greatest Rivalry Test at DHL Stadium in Cape Town — and he is not pretending otherwise. Six changes from the side that lost 16-33 to New Zealand at Ellis Park, three of them forced by injury, tell their own story about the bind the world champions find themselves in trailing 1-0 in the series.

Pollard Returns as Erasmus Makes Six Changes

The headline selection is Handre Pollard at fly-half, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu dropping to the bench and Manie Libbok falling out of the matchday 23 entirely. Erasmus is following the same script he used last year — turning to the experienced Pollard after a defeat in Johannesburg ahead of a Cape Town Test — but he insists it was not a pre-planned move. Circumstances have driven him there. "To be honest with you, we had a little bit of a different team in mind," he told reporters after naming his squad on Monday. "We hoped we could win the first Test match and we wanted to try some things."

Chief among those plans was getting Cheslin Kolbe back to full sharpness. The Stormers wing had played just 80 minutes of rugby for the Springboks coming into this series, and the coaching staff wanted him properly fresh. That plan is now moot — Kolbe is ruled out through injury alongside scrumhalf Grant Williams, with Ethan Hooker and Cobus Reinach stepping in respectively. "I would have loved to play Cheslin again," Erasmus said. "It's been taxing for him because he's a small guy who plays really physically for his size. Unfortunately he and Grant got injured. So there are a couple of changes that we wouldn't have made and others that we wanted to make, but because of our injury situation and because we didn't get winning momentum, it's tough to make more changes. I mean, there are six changes already; I would say three are injury-forced."

Cape Town Conditions Drive Fly-Half Selection

On Pollard specifically, Erasmus was candid: the Cape Town conditions and the placekicking responsibility that comes with Kolbe's absence made the 32-year-old the obvious call. Erasmus also put his hand up for decision-making errors at Ellis Park. "We played stupid, and a lot of the messages came from me at the top," he said. "Two points is three points is two less than five. We were 16-13 under the poles, third scrum, and we're not sure the ref will reward us — then we make a mistake — we could have kicked the kick over." With wet weather forecast in Cape Town, Pollard's metronomic boot and his familiarity with Western Cape conditions — he grew up there — made the decision straightforward. "Handre has always been the guy who does it for us. He grew up there; it's his hometown," Erasmus confirmed. He added that he feels for Libbok but stressed the door remains open: "We know he is still going to play in the next three matches after this one."

Springboks Shift Strategy After Ellis Park

Victor Matfield's assessment after Ellis Park was blunt — the Springboks played too much rugby when they should have ground the All Blacks down, and Cape Town demands a different approach. That reading aligns with what Erasmus is building toward this week. The other changes beyond the injury replacements see Deon Fourie, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Cameron Hanekom and Morne van der Berg come into the matchday 23. Fourie's inclusion is particularly significant — the Stormers veteran, who last pulled on the green and gold at the 2023 World Cup, becomes the oldest-ever Springbok. Erasmus explained that Fourie was never far from his thinking despite his injury-plagued run, sitting permanently in a third column on the coaching staff's squad spreadsheet alongside players like Frans Malherbe. "If we sometimes have to push the emergency button, he's one of those players," Erasmus said. "He covers hooker, can go to openside as well. It gives us more options, gives us more leadership and calmness."

Canan Moodie's fitness was another variable Erasmus had hoped to use; that door also closed. The Springboks head into Saturday's 16:10 SAST kickoff at DHL Stadium needing a win to level the series before the decider moves to FNB Stadium on 5 September. For more on how Cameron Hanekom has forced his way into the conversation and what the selection means for the back-row pecking order, we have that covered. The series is alive — but South Africa cannot afford another evening of self-inflicted mistakes.