Evan Roos is again out in the cold, after missing out on the 36-man Springbok squad to tour the UK and Europe.
Much has been written about Evan Roos and his involvement with the Springboks, but the question has to be asked again: What does he need to do to get a proper look in?
The powerful eighthman has made another barnstorming start to the United Rugby Championship (URC) season for the Stormers, but finds himself on the Bok standby list for their end-of-year-tour to the UK and Europe.
The Boks will go on tour with just one out-and-out eighthman, Jasper Wiese, while Siya Kolisi and Kwagga Smith have donned the No 8 jersey for the national team this season (when Wiese was banned), while Ben-Jason Dixon and Marco van Staden could wear it in a pinch, but they’re not No 8s.
The worrying thing for Roos is that two massive competitors for the jersey, Elrigh Louw and Cameron Hanekom, have been out of the squad the whole international season through injury, and will only return for the Boks next year.
So this year was in essence his biggest opportunity to make a strong claim to be Wiese’s backup heading towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
But after featuring for just 24 minutes off the bench against Italy in July, that may be his only appearance for the Boks this season, unless injury strikes the world champions during the November internationals, and even then Juarno Augustus could receive a maiden call-up ahead of him.
Scintillating form
In his four games for the Stormers at the start of this season, Roos has scored four tries, received two man-of-the-match awards, against Ospreys and Zebre, and has helped his team to the top of the log, with his strong form being a big driving factor.
But that isn’t enough for Rassie Erasmus, even though it is a bit thin in the No 8 department currently, and it would be nice if the Bok coach could let the country know why he doesn’t consider Roos a viable option. Erasmus’ standard answer is he knows what he has in Roos.
When Aphelele Fassi was dropped by the Boks back in 2022, Erasmus and Co said it was the fullback’s weak defence that was one of the key reasons, and that he would need to work on that along with a few other things to force his way back in.
He has since come back into the Bok setup much stronger and is now a favourite for the starting fullback jersey (when fit), along with Damian Willemse.
Would it not be fair for Roos to be given an inkling of what he needs to do to force his way into contention as well?
