The five players who will be released to their franchises to face the All Blacks in the midweek matches of the inaugural Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series are Ntuthuko Mchunu (prop), Evan Roos (No 8), Andre-Hugo Venter (hooker), Embrose Papier (scrumhalf), and Jaco Williams (wing).

Ruben van Heerden (lock), who made his Test debut against Wales last Saturday, is the only player in the squad for the opening leg of the Nations Championship who was omitted from the two groups after making the move from the DHL Stormers to Montpellier, as he finds his feet with his new French club. He will, however, remain on standby for the team.

“We put a lot of thought into how we will manage the entire group of players to give everyone a chance to stake a claim for places in the squad for the RGR series, and we decided that splitting the squad into two groups will be best for the Springbok team and the players to play their way into the squad,” said Erasmus.

“Some players are returning from injury and need some valuable game time, so depending on how they progress from their injuries during next week’s training camp, we will decide who we will take to Argentina, while the other guys in the 43-man squad will remain behind in Johannesburg with a group of coaches and management to begin preparing for the Tests against New Zealand.