Springboks: One player called up, another heads home

On Sunday evening the Springboks confirmed that star lock Eben Etzebeth – the most capped South African Test player with 147 caps – has been called up to the national squad, and he will join the squad in France on Monday.

Etzebeth was ruled out of Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus’ initial touring squad for the second phase of the Nations Championship due to injury, but the stalwart has made a quick recovery.

However, uncapped flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed will return to South Africa on Sunday due to a shoulder niggle that saw him miss most of the training sessions in the build-up to the Springboks’ 66-7 victory against Italy in Turin on Saturday.

Springboks add experience to team ahead of battle with France

After starting their tour with a comprehensive win over Italy, the Springboks next face France on Friday.

“We are very sad for Yaqeen after earning his first call-up to the national squad, but we feel it will be best for him to return to South Africa to recover,” said Erasmus on Sunday.

“After being with us for a week, he has a good idea of how we operate and has more insight into our systems, and we are confident that the experience will benefit him immensely as a player going forward.

“With enough backline cover in the squad and a number of versatile players among them, we opted to call up Eben, who will not only bring vast experience to the group at this vital stage of the Nations Championship, but also valuable leadership skills, especially with two important matches against France and Ireland in the next two weeks before the Finals Weekend of the tournament.”

Focus turns to next challenge

Erasmus will name his match-23 to face France on Monday, with the Test at the Stade de France kicking off at 22:10 (SA time) on Friday.

Coming into this clash after outplaying Italy, Erasmus said he was happy with the team’s discipline: “I think we only conceded one penalty in the first half, and about five penalties and five turnovers in the game, which is pretty disciplined, even though the second half was a little soft.”

Asked what the main contributing factors were to the team’s ability to consistently keep building, Erasmus added: “The biggest thing is that we’ve been together for eight years now, and we’re slowly bringing in guys like Ethan (Hooker), ‘Krappie’ (Morne van den Berg), Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu), Ruan (Nortje), Cameron (Hanekom), Jan-Hendrik (Wessels), and Thomas (du Toit) is now back with us too.

“So we’ve been able to bring people in here and there, and when you go to a game like this and pick a team that’s match fit and ready, and everybody is calm and understands the system because we’ve been coaching them for a while, it’s satisfying.”