The race for places for the November tour with the Springboks takes centre stage from this weekend again as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship doesn’t compete with the national team for eyeballs.
All thoughts will be on who can make the grade for the November internationals against Scotland, England and Wales.
“Each player has a different situation,” Erasmus said. “Some players are on leave, some players will play URC, some are playing in France, some are going to Mauritius – four or five guys organised with their franchises to take their rest now.The coaches, however, will be watching the club competitions across the world to decide who needs to make the step up for the three-week tour of Europe.
“It will include about 10 players playing in England and Japan and as the players get released, we will start preparing the last two weeks before we go overseas.” The injured players who may well return include the likes of Faf de Klerk, RG Snyman, Franco Mostert, Edwill van der Merwe, Damian Willemse and Jean Kleyn. The last two returned to action in the last fortnight for their clubs, while it seems that those definitely ruled out for the tour include Steven Kitshoff , Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Lood de Jager while Evan Roos is another understood to not have recovered in time with a shoulder injury.
But then there is Willemse, who was the incumbent before getting injured, and will no doubt be returned to the squad now that he is playing again. And lest we forget, Willie le Roux is now on 96 caps, and Erasmus has spoken about how he wants to get him to his 100th cap as well. Le Roux’s playmaking abilities are legendary, and will not be discarded easily, especially given his off-field influence on players as well.
The midfield is virtually sewn up by three players with Andre Esterhuizen out on the fringes. But if the Boks want to blood new players, Ethan Hooker and Henco van Wyk fit the bill.
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