{"id":533696,"date":"2025-10-28T17:26:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/533696\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T17:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T17:26:14","slug":"boks-hand-debut-to-21-year-old-prop-as-three-world-cup-winners-make-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/533696\/","title":{"rendered":"Boks hand debut to 21-year-old prop as three World Cup winners make returns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Stormers\u2019 21-year-old tighthead prop Zachary Porthen<\/a> will make his debut on Saturday when the Springboks take on Japan<\/a> at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n

Porthen will join what is otherwise a settled Springboks side for the clash against Eddie Jones\u2019 side, with Rassie Erasmus<\/a> selecting 16 players from the Rugby Championship-sealing victory over Argentina.<\/p>\n

The side have received a further boost, with World Cup winners Kurt-Lee Arendse<\/a>, Franco Mostert<\/a> and Lood de Jager<\/a> returning after missing the final rounds of the Championship.<\/p>\n

De Jager will start in the second-row with Mostert in the back-row, while Arendse will take his place on the wing.<\/p>\n

Wilco Louw will provide back-up for Porthen from the bench.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

South Africa <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Japan <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cHe proved at Vodacom United Rugby Championship<\/a> level and with the Junior Springboks what he can do, and we are looking forward to seeing what he can offer in his first Test match,\u201d Erasmus said of Porthen.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, he has a lot to learn this week, but we have experienced players in the squad who have been helping and guiding him, and we believe this is the right match to give him an opportunity to prove what he can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this level, you have to sink or swim, so although it will be a challenging week for him to learn our structures, it will also be a very exciting week for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springbok XV<\/strong>
15 Cheslin Kolbe<\/a> (Tokyo Sungoliath) \u2013 46 caps, 126 points (21t, 3c, 5p)
14 Ethan Hooker<\/a> (Hollywoodbets Sharks) \u2013 5 caps, 0 points
13 Jesse Kriel<\/a> (Canon Eagles) \u2013 84 caps, 95 points (19t)
12 Damian de Allende<\/a> (Wild Knights) \u2013 93 caps, 55 points (11t)
11 Kurt-Lee Arendse<\/a> (Vodacom Bulls) \u2013 27 caps, 105 points (21t)
10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu<\/a> (DHL Stormers) \u2013 15 caps, 104 points (3t, 28c, 11p)
9 Cobus Reinach<\/a> (DHL Stormers) \u2013 46 caps, 85 pts (17t)
8 Jasper Wiese<\/a> (Urayasu D-Rocks) \u2013 39 caps, 10 points (2t)
7 Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) \u2013 81 caps, 20 points (4t)
6 Siya Kolisi<\/a> (captain, Hollywoodbets Sharks) \u2013 98 caps, 65 points (13t)
5 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) \u2013 71 caps, 25 points (5t)
4 RG Snyman<\/a> (Leinster) \u2013 46 caps, 15 points (3t)
3 Zachary Porthen (DHL Stormers) \u2013 uncapped
2 Malcolm Marx<\/a> (Kubota Spears) \u2013 84 caps, 135 pts (27t)
1 Ox Nche<\/a> (Hollywoodbets Sharks) \u2013 46 caps, 0 pts<\/p>\n

Replacements<\/strong>
16 Johan Grobbelaar<\/a> (Vodacom Bulls) \u2013 3 caps, 0 points
17 Gerhard Steenekamp<\/a> (Vodacom Bulls) \u2013 11 caps, 5 points (1t)
18 Wilco Louw<\/a> (Vodacom Bulls) \u2013 24 caps, 0 pts
19 Ruan Nortje<\/a> (Vodacom Bulls) \u2013 13 caps, 0 pts
20 Andre Esterhuizen<\/a> (Hollywoodbets Sharks) \u2013 24 caps, 10 pts (2t)
21 Kwagga Smith<\/a> (Shizuoka Blue Revs) \u2013 59 caps, 55 points (11t)
22 Grant Williams<\/a> (Hollywoodbets Sharks) \u2013 24 caps, 25 pts (5t)
23 Manie Libbok<\/a> (Kintetsu Liners) \u2013 24 caps, 133 pts (2t, 42c, 13p)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Stormers\u2019 21-year-old tighthead prop Zachary Porthen will make his debut on Saturday when the Springboks take on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-533696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115452968830529150","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}