An injury niggle to Morné van den Berg led to Bok coach Rassie Erasmus calling up Faf de Klerk for their two games in New Zealand.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has revealed that an injury niggle to scrumhalf Morné van den Berg necessitated the call-up of veteran Faf de Klerk, ahead of their massive encounter against the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday.
On Sunday the Boks released a statement saying that hooker Bongi Mbonambi had remained in South Africa due to family circumstances, while De Klerk had been added to the squad ahead of the two Rugby Championship games in New Zealand.
Speaking from their base in Auckland on Monday, Erasmus explained that they were comfortable with the depth in the squad, and that De Klerk’s call-up was due to the uncertainty around Van den Berg’s injury.
“We didn’t replace Bongi with Faf. Krappie (Van den Berg) had a bit of a niggle, which is looking good. So calling Faf in was just a precautionary measure around that,” said Erasmus.
“Bongi has a personal matter, there is some illness in his family, and he will join us as soon as possible. As long as we get through this game without injury at hooker we will be fine.
“We obviously have Malcolm (Marx), Marnus (van der Merwe) and Jan-Hendrik (Wessels) can cover hooker and (loosehead) prop.
“So we are happy with our coverage and could have toured with 34 players, but we were unsure about the severity of Morné’s niggle. We were worried it might be more serious than we thought, and that’s why we called in Faf.”
Stunning start
After a stunning start to the Rugby Championship that has seen all four teams pick up one win each, the Boks know that they need to pick up at least one win in New Zealand to realistically keep their hopes alive of retaining the title.
Currently the All Blacks top the log on six points, followed by the Wallabies on five, and Boks and Argentina both on four, separated by points difference.
A history-making first ever win in the professional era at the All Blacks’ fortress Eden Park this weekend would be first prize, but if they are unable to achieve that the Boks will have to target a win at “The Cake Tin” in Wellington, which is a ground they have enjoyed success at before.
The Boks’ last win over the All Blacks in New Zealand came at the ground back in 2018, with them clinching a thrilling 36-34 triumph on that occasion.
They will now be targeting their fifth successive win over their biggest rivals, having beaten them at Twickenham (35-7) and in the World Cup final in France (12-11) in 2023, and in South Africa at Ellis Park (31-27) and at the Cape Town Stadium (18-12) last year.
