Erasmus explains non-selection of Mostert

Franco Mostert will not be considered for Saturday’s Springbok clash against England, with Rassie Erasmus explaining the dilemma.

Mostert, who has starred for the Springboks and Lions this year, was signed earlier in the year by English club Gloucester, only for the Lions to claim that he still belonged to them.

While the lock was still listed as a Lions player in the Springbok squad announcement, he is set to be treated like the other overseas based players and miss the opening match against England (which falls outside the official international window).

Erasmus spoke on the situation of selection and alluded to the probability that Mostert will be joining Gloucester.

“It is such a touchy thing at this stage.”

“For a person to settle in at Gloucester, we just decided not to use him this weekend, personally for him to settle at his new club.

“I think if we went into detail we could have selected him, but it’s not worth going into that. ”

“He is a great player and started most of the Test matches this year at No 5 for us so he will be missed.”

“But we are fortunate that Pieter-Steph (Du Toit) has played there a lot, Lood de Jager is fit again, RG Snyman is here. So we have some options.”