Springboks fly-half Handre Pollard has sung the praises of fellow Rugby World Cup winner Eben Etzebeth as the lock is set to equal South Africa’s Test appearance record.

Etzebeth currently has 126 international appearances for the Springboks after making his debut for the four-time world champions against England in Durban in 2012.

Starts on the bench against Argentina

The 32-year-old Springboks enforcer has been named on the replacements bench for the Rugby Championship clash with Argentina in Santiago del Estero on Saturday and, if he takes to the field in that match, he will equal fellow second-row forward Victor Matfield’s record of 127 Test appearances.

Matfield himself said recently that he has no qualms with Etzebeth breaking his record which is set to happen when the Boks and Los Pumas meet in the final Rugby Championship Test of the year in Nelspruit on September 28.

And Pollard believes Etzebeth fully deserves the honour of being South Africa‘s most capped player.

“What Eben’s doing – and I would say going to do going forward because he’s not stopping anytime soon – is unbelievable,” said the 30-year-old, who will make his second successive start at fly-half for the Boks

“Playing at this level, to get 50 games is special. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment. To get to 100 is just unbelievable and to do what he’s doing is something that we’ve never seen in the past.

‘One of the ultimate Springboks ever’

“I am very, very proud to be associated with Eben. He is one of the ultimate Springboks ever. He loves the Springboks, maybe just second to his family.

His work rate, work ethic, week-in and week-out, he is always training hard, always helping the team, always putting the team first.

“It takes a special person to do that. If he equals it this weekend and breaks it next week in Nelspruit, it will be a very special day.”

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FULL LIST: Springboks’ growing injury list updated

Fan-favourite, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, has been added to a very long list of injured Springboks. Here is an update.

Rassie Eramsus has confirmed that yet another Springboks player picked up an injury niggle against the All Blacks and will play no further part in the Rugby Championship.

Rassie Erasmus has named his Springboks lineup for their penultimate Rugby Championship Test of the season, against Los Pumas in Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

And while it is commendable and in fact a sign of the remarkable depth of Springbok rugby that the boss continues to field strong, match-winning lineups in the midst of an injury crisis; it is worrying that so many regular starters are going down with knocks at a rapid rate.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has become the latest injury casualty, with the playmaker said to have suffered a knee knock in the first Test against the All Blacks at Ellis Park already.

He did, however, feature in the second Test against New Zealand in Cape Town after egregiously hiding his injury from the Springboks management team.

“He injured his knee before the first Test against the All Blacks,” said Erasmus. “He played through it. I asked him during the next week why he was limping and he said he injured his knee last week.

“I actually really wanted to pull him out of the team because he was limping. That’s what we need the players to understand, you must be honest about injuries. Sacha is lucky we won both of those Test matches,” the Springboks boss explained.

“They need to be honest when it comes to injuries, because nobody at 80 percent fitness is better than another player who is 100 percent ready.

FULL-LIST: INJURED SPRINGBOKS

• Damian Willemse
• RG Snyman
• Faf de Klerk
• Steven Kitshoff
• Grant Williams
• Jean Kleyn
• Deon Fourie
• Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
• Franco Mostert
• Lood de Jager
• Evan Roos