The Springboks will face England with a greenhorn at scrumhalf after coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed that Faf de Klerk will not play a part in South Africa’s opening match of their November tour on Saturday.
The England-based Faf de Klerk will miss the Test at Twickenham because it falls outside of the international Test window. However, the Sale Sharks player will be available for the remaining three Tests against France, Wales and Scotland.
One of Embrose Papier (4 caps), Louis Schreuder (1) or Ivan van Zyl (3) will have to start against Eddie Jones’ men, who went down 2-1 in a three-Test series against the Springboks in South Africa in June.
Papier was De Klerk’s deputy throughout the Rugby Championship, but only came off the bench in two matches — he played got six minutes on the wing against Argentina in Durban, before he was given just over 10 minutes against the All Blacks in Pretoria after De Klerk left the field with cramps.
Springboks boss Erasmus has been reluctant to change his scrumhalves this year, and now it’s sink or swim time for the three players who have less than 10 caps between them. However, this is also an opportunity for one of these players to put their hand up, especially with next year’s World Cup in Japan less than a year away.
“All the players that play in the English Premiership are not available, because the Test is outside the international window. The Japanese players can play, but the French players aren’t available as well,” Erasmus said at the team’s hotel in London.
“When we agreed to this Test match, we knew we were going to be without certain players. But there are some positive spinoffs — not just financially — like getting another Test before the World Cup. With guys like Faf and Willie (le Roux) not available, it does put pressure on us in terms of results.
“In June we played England with an outside centre and two wingers with no caps. We are a bit thin going through a period of not having a lot of experienced scrumhalves. But Ivan and Embrose have been in the system since the beginning of the season, so it’s not a matter of them having to learn everything from scratch.”
Besides De Klerk, Wasps fullback Le Roux, Bath flank Francois Louw and France-based utility player Cheslin Kolbe, the Boks will also be without lock Franco Mostert, who is now on the books of Gloucester after saying farewell to the Lions.
On Friday Erasmus said he didn’t quite know what Mostert’s status was following a protracted battle between the Lions and English club, which is coached by former Springbok lock and Lions coach Johan Ackermann.
“It’s such a touchy thing,” Erasmus said about Mostert’s situation.
“We decided not to pick him this week, for him to settle in at Gloucester. He is a great player and he has started most of the Test matches this year. Luckily we have Pieter-Steph who can play there, Lood de Jager is fit again and RG Snyman, so we have some options.”