South Africa rocked ahead of World Cup as Boks forced to omit three key players from squad

South Africa's fly-half Handre Pollard has been ruled out of the World Cup.

South Africa will be without three of their key players for the 2023 World Cup after Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am and Lood de Jager were omitted from their 33-man squad.

The Springboks, who are in Pool B alongside Scotland, Ireland, Tonga and Romania, are the defending champions, but have been dealt a rough hand with fitness concerns on the eve of the tournament, injuries denying them the services of fly-half Pollard (calf), outside centre Am (knee) and lock De Jager (illness). While the trio have been put on a standby list, they are only likely to be involved in France next month if other players are forced to pull out.

Head coach Jacques Nienaber has named 21 players with experience of playing in the tournament during a press conference in Johannesburg, nine of whom will be appearing at their third World Cup, when he revealed the squad in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The squad comprises 19 forwards and 14 backline players.

Props Frans Malherbe and Trevor Nyakane, lock Eben Etzebeth, loose forwards Pieter-Steph du Toit, captain Siya Kolisi, Duane Vermeulen, centres Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel and full-back Willie le Roux will feature in their third World Cup and are among a large group of players who were members of the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning squad.

Also returning from 2019 are Steven Kitshoff and Vincent Koch (props), Bongi Mbonambi and Malcolm Marx (hookers), RG Snyman (lock), Kwagga Smith, (loose forward), Franco Mostert (utility forward), Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach (scrum-halves), Damian Willemse (utility back), Cheslin Kolbe and Makazole Mapimpi (wingers).

Making their first appearance at a Rugby World Cup are Ox Nche (prop), Jean Kleyn and Marvin Orie (locks), Marco van Staden and Jasper Wiese (loose forwards), Deon Fourie (utility forward), Jaden Hendrikse and Grant Williams (scrum-halves), Manie Libbok (fly-half), Andre Esterhuizen (centre), Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie (outside backs).

“We’ve picked a squad with a bunch of the players who can also cover alternative positions, which we’ll need in a very tough World Cup,” said Nienaber. “We were in a great position this year to have so many players knocking on the door for selection but unfortunately, we could only select 33. Injuries have had a hand in the final selection, but they are part of the game, and we are excited about the quality of the players who can step in and perform at World Cup level – as many of the players who featured against Argentina showed last weekend.”

“The coaches and players have put in a helluva lot work in the last few years, and we have the luxury of naming a squad that features a big group of players who know what it takes to win a World Cup and who will enter the tournament with vast international experience.

“The younger players have also showed in the last two seasons that they can match some of the top players in the world, so we believe we are better prepared as a team going into this tournament. We still have two warm-up games left and a road to travel to build player combinations and fine tune the areas of our game that we feel we need to improve on, so we are by no means the final product at this stage.”

South Africa will launch their title defence on Sunday, September 10 against Scotland at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.