History will be made as the Springboks kick off their 2025 campaign against the Barbarians in Cape Town, the first time the iconic invitational team will play on South African soil. It will be the ninth meeting between the sides, and the first since 2016.

The Barbarians team consists of players from top leagues including the United Rugby Championship, French Top 14, English Premiership, Super Rugby, and the Japanese League.

Erasmus says the clash provides the perfect setting for testing new talent.

"It's an ideal game. We wanted the game, we wanted to play against the Barbarians. We are a team that loves to analyse opposition and individual players,  we will always do that and Felix plays a massive role in doing that, finding out our opposition's strengths and weaknesses. But obviously, we can't do that with the Barbarians."

--ChannelAfrica--