Last month it was confirmed that Faf de Klerk had been ruled out of the first couple of Springbok Rugby Championship matches, along with two other scrumhalves: Jaden Hendrikse and Herschel Jantjies, due to injury.
The Springboks are blessed with depth at scrumhalf, though, with little to choose between Cobus Reinach and Grant Williams for the No 9 jersey, but it’s the latter who finally looks set for another deserved start against the Wallabies this Saturday.
Williams has only started at scrumhalf once before for the Springboks, and on that occasion he had to be replaced within the first minute of the match after suffering a head knock against Argentina.
He has featured in 10 other Tests to date, coming on as a substitute on eight occasions, while starting on the right wing twice at last year’s World Cup.
As the Springboks begin to look towards the future at scrumhalf, it would make little sense to continue starting 34-year-old Cobus Reinach, and it does seem that Williams will crack the nod at No 9 this weekend.
Williams will face the Wallabies for the first time in Australia, and said he is looking forward to the challenge: “They have good scrumhalves and a guy like Nic White, in particular, has a lot of experience, so they will test us. But we also want to go out there and give our best, so hopefully it will be a top-class match.”
Williams will form part of a strong Springbok side
Erasmus will name his matchday squad for the clash on Tuesday, with the match kicking off at 06h45 (SA time) on Saturday, and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
The Boks arrived in Australia last week Thursday to acclimatise to the time zone and local conditions, and they wasted no time getting into the thick of things with training and gym sessions on Friday and Saturday.
The players had Sunday off to recover and resumed training on Monday, and according to lock RG Snyman, the decision certainly paid off.
“Arriving in Australia the week before the Test was beneficial because it allowed us more time to overcome the jetlag, and especially outside of the Test week itself as well,” said Snyman.
“The guys are now well settled into the time zone, and we are training full-out and feel good, so we are excited about Saturday’s match.”
Snyman said the fact that the Boks had played two Tests against the world’s second highest ranked team, Ireland, last month also assisted in their preparation for the challenge they are about to face against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina in the Rugby Championship.
“I don’t think we could have had better preparation than facing Ireland going into the Rugby Championship, and we certainly learned a few things in those matches which we would like to carry into this competition,” said the big Bok lock.
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES
The 2024 tournament will be contested over six rounds, with each country playing six matches – three at home and three away.
All times SA
Round 1 – August 10
Australia vs South Africa, Brisbane – 06:30
New Zealand vs Argentina, Wellington – 09:35
Round 2 – August 17
New Zealand vs Argentina, Auckland – 09:35
Australia vs South Africa, Perth – 11:45
Round 3 – August 31
South Africa vs New Zealand, Johannesburg – 17:00
Argentina vs Australia, La Plata – 21:00
Round 4 – September 7
South Africa vs New Zealand, Cape Town – 17:00
Argentina vs Australia, Santa Fe – 21:00
Round 5 – September 21
Australia vs New Zealand, Sydney – 07:45
Argentina vs South Africa, Santiago del Estero – 23:00
Round 6 – September 28
New Zealand vs Australia, Wellington – 09:05
