Welsh test to galvanise young scrummies

In the absence of Faf De Klerk for Saturday’s Welsh clash, Springbok backline coach  Mzwandile Stick believes the squad’s two young scrummies will gain valuable test experience.

With just 5 tests to go until the World Cup, Erasmus is looking to build some test depth at scrum half and won’t be selecting Faf De Klerk for the final encounter against Wales. Therefore the young Embrose Papier and Ivan Van Zyl are set to feature again for this coming weekend.

Papier, after a brilliant showing at Murrayfield in which he made just over a pass a minute, is likely to start again with Van Zyl closing out the match from the bench.

In speaking of Papier, Stick said:

“With Faf being absent, it’s a great opportunity for the youngsters. For his age, I think Embrose Papier had a very good game against Scotland. He controlled it very well. We saw his X-factor in the game when he gets an opportunity,”

On Van Zyl the backline coach offered:

“Ivan van Zyl also had a great game against England. So going towards the World Cup you really want to give those youngsters opportunities and make sure you give them a bit of experience in top flight rugby.”

Head coach Erasmus expressed his views on the scrum half situation earlier in the week, saying, “The way we have been trying to build momentum and get the winning feeling back, we had to rely a lot on Faf, but we feel the young boys in the squad are ready to take the step up and show what they can do, like Embrose did last week and Ivan did against England.”