'Honoured and excited': Jesse Kriel ready to captain Springboks for the first time

Kriel has vice-captained the Boks on several occasions but this will be his first time leading the team into battle.

The world-class midfielder, a veteran of 79 caps, admitted there were some initial nerves after receiving the news, but he soon realised he was ready for the challenge and would be able to rely on plenty of support on the field.

"I'm excited and honoured," said Kriel. "I'm very happy about accepting this responsibility, and although I was a little nervous at one stage, I'm keen to go out there and lead the team.

"One of the big aspects of our team is that everyone takes ownership in their areas of the game, so this match won't be any different for me on Saturday.

"Fortunately, we have a lot of leaders in guys like Lood (de Jager), Malcolm (Marx), Damian (de Allende), Cheslin (Kolbe), and Kurt-Lee (Arendse), so having them in the team will make my job easier."

Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick was equally excited to see Kriel fulfil the role, and he was confident that the hard-working centre would deliver on the expectations on him.

"We always try to give players as much time as possible to recover from niggles, and since Siya has a stiff neck, we thought it would be best not to risk him for this game," he said.

"As part of our planning we also try to build more leaders in the group, and Jesse has always been in that category, and I'm excited to see how he assumes that role this weekend."

Both Kriel and Stick were excited to kick off the 2025 season and said the Boks were eager to add to South Africa's recent successes on the sporting stage.

"As a team are excited to be involved in an international match again," Kriel said. "We all work really hard at our clubs to get here, and this is what we live for as players, so we are certainly approaching this match as a Test, and we have no doubt it will set the tone for the season ahead."

Stick added: "The Proteas have done very well (winning the World Test Championship), and Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana are doing well too, so we would like to build on that," Stick said.

"As a team, we enjoy making a difference in South Africa and hopefully we can continue to make the country proud."

Zoning in on the Barbarians, Stick said that while their team was packed with high-quality calibre players, the main focus for the Boks this week was focusing on laying their own foundation for the season ahead.

"They have players with that X-factor and many leaders in their team as well. Given the fact that it is tough to analyse them, we feel this is exactly the type of test we need to start off the international season."

Kick-off is at 17h10.

READ MORE: Jesse Kriel to lead Springboks as Siya Kolisi withdraws from Barbarians clash