With Faf de Klerk out of action, Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber admits there is strong competition for the starting scrumhalf spot ahead of the Boks' clash against Wales.
De Klerk took to social media over the weekend to confirm he had undergone surgery on his injured hip, revealing it had taken place on his birthday.
“Not ideal having surgery on your 30th birthday, but just want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes and get well soon messages! Surgery went well,” said De Klerk, who is expected to be out of the game for up to four months.
The absence of De Klerk for the Boks’ end-of-year tour in the UK means a spot opens up in Nienaber’s starting line-up, and he admits the competition between the two front-runners – Cobus Reinach and Herschel Jantjies – is strong, with the uncapped Grant Williams now also in the mix.
Jantjies has consistently been selected as De Klerk’s deputy on the bench this season, however, when De Klerk suffered an injury during the Lions tour, it was Reinach who was brought straight into the starting line-up to replace him.
Jantjies has acquitted himself well when coming off the bench, and is a more like-for-like replacement for De Klerk, but Reinach brings an entirely new set of skills, which were once again on full display for his French club Montpellier against Racing 92 this weekend.
The Bok squad recently touched down in France for their training camp and many of them were in attendance for the Top 14 game to watch Reinach score two superb tries.
“Obviously with Faf being injured there is a potential spot open and between Cobus, Herschel and Grant [Williams] it’s going to be a tough one,” said Nienaber on Sunday.
“That’s what you want in a squad … that competition that drives good standards.
“Cobus was excellent for us. He played against the British & Irish Lions in the last game and was great.
“If you look at how Herschel finished our last game (against the All Blacks), I thought he had a pretty good outing.
“We are very fortunate from a Springbok point of view that we have very good No 9s currently all pushing for starting spots. That’s what you want.”
Meanwhile, Nienaber said Bok fans should not expect too many surprises in the side for the fixtures against Wales (6 November), Scotland (13 November) and England (20 November).
“From a squad point of view, if you look at the squad, except for the injuries that we have, we are building consistency,” Nienaber said. “Since the World Cup, we have only played 10 Test matches because we lost out on 2020 due to Covid.
“So the key thing for us is to build consistency again. Consistency in our performances and preparations. So I don’t think there will be a lot of surprises in team selection and what we put out.
“In saying that, nobody is irreplaceable in our squad. There is so much good competition. If you think that we played in the Lions series without Duane Vermeulen, we played the final game without Faf de Klerk, we played in the Rugby Championship without Cheslin Kolbe and in the last Test match against New Zealand without Frans Malherbe.
“From that perspective, we know as a group that nobody is irreplaceable. We must also know that we have to perform. When the players are at their clubs, they have to stake their claim for selection and players who are with us now have to train well to stake their claim.
“Saying that, knowing this group, we all work hard and take nothing for granted. That’s why I say there won’t be surprises in selection. There is enough competition that if you slack off, there is someone to take your spot.”
