Bulls scrumhalf Embrose Papier has been in good form this season.
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Two players who have been at the heart of the Lions’ resurgence in the United Rugby Championship — Morne van den Berg and Asenathi Ntlabakanye — are no longer part of their team’s play-off hopes and are also likely to be removed from the Springboks’ plans.
For tighthead prop Ntlabakanye, it looks like a long-term removal from both teams — unless he successfully appeals his 18-month ban for a doping offence — while the situation with scrum-half “Krappies" is less clear. We know only that he returned home from URC action in Ireland with a torn biceps. That would suggest he is in serious danger of missing out on July’s Nations Championship.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is used to players succumbing to the various vagaries of the sport, and at tighthead prop and scrum-half, he will be examining his depth. We know the wily coach likes to have players stacked up in each position as his immediate favourites, his next-in-lines, and his long-term possibilities.
At the beginning of this year, the Bok options at nine centred around Cobus Reinach, Van den Berg, Grant Williams, and Jaden Hendrikse as the leading contenders, with Faf de Klerk a back-up in case of emergency, and Embrose Papier knocking on the door. Long-term replacements then — and now — were Junior Boks Haashim Pead and Imad Khan.
Right now, the leading four scrum-halves are injured — Reinach, Van den Berg, Williams, and Hendrikse. There are still about six weeks until the Boks’ opening match against England on July 4 for the front-runners to recover, but Reinach is out with a serious groin injury, and both Williams and Hendrikse remain injury-prone. The Sharks duo have played very little in Durban in recent months.
Countering the worry over the front-line scrum-halves is the return to favour of Papier, whose sensational URC campaign with the Bulls has been rewarded with an invitation to the current alignment camp.
Furthermore, Erasmus is rumoured to have given his approval for Ivan van Zyl’s return to South Africa from Saracens to play for the Sharks. Erasmus picked Van Zyl for six Tests in 2018, but has ignored him since. There is also the under-rated Nico Steyn, who is mostly ahead of Pead in the Lions' pecking order. The 24-year-old Steyn played for the Junior Springboks in 2021 and 2022.
At tighthead prop, the Boks are seldom short of options even if stalwarts such as Frans Malherbe and Vincent Koch are entering the twilight of their careers. The spearheads at the moment — Wilco Louw and Thomas du Toit — are in fantastic form, but who will back them next year in Australia now that Ntlabakanye is out?
Stormers veteran Neethling Fouche is an obvious candidate. He is a superb scrummager and gets around the field industriously. Former Lions prop Carlu Sadie is having a superb season with Bordeaux and would be a like-for-like substitute for Louw should there be a need. He could well take over from Ntlabakanye.
The long-term future in the position is currently booked by Stormers prospect Zachary Porthen, who was capped three times last year.