Saturday’s British and Irish Lions opponents, the Stormers, are preparing as normal for their tour game despite SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus’ lobby to have the game converted into a second SA ‘A’ fixture instead.
Erasmus’ Springboks are match-starved, having played just once in 20 months since winning the Rugby World Cup in Japan against Georgia at Loftus two weeks back.
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A Covid outbreak in the Georgian and South African camps forced the cancellation of their second Test last week, leaving the Boks bereft of match time ahead of the three-Test Lions series starting later this month.
Stormers assistant coach Dawie Snyman said they were going through their practice at Newlands this week as if the game was going ahead, as no official information had come suggesting otherwise.
“It’s out of our hands,” said Snyman.
“It’s always been rumours and reports, and at some stage, we weren’t sure whether it was going to be Wednesday or Saturday.
“But that stuff is quite above us. That decision is made at the top level.
“We’ve just kept our heads down and prepared for a match on Saturday. We’ve been preparing for the Lions game and keeping an eye on where we are on the team also, to make sure we progress.
“It feels like a tour in your own city, but it’s nice. You train at Newlands every day. It’s still a special ground to work at, and the vibe and energy in the group is still great.”
Springboks included in the SA ‘A’ team will get a precious run out against the Lions on Wednesday after Erasmus picked as many Bok stars as he could fill.
Kick-off on Wednesday is at 20:00.
Teams:
South Africa ‘A’
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Sbu Nkosi, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes (from): 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 20 Rynhardt Elstadt, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Jesse Kriel, 23 Damian Willemse, 24 Kwagga Smith, 25 Elton Jantjies
British & Irish Lions
15 Anthony Watson (England), 14 Louis Rees-Zammit (Wales), 13 Chris Harris (Scotland), 12 Bundee Aki (Ireland), 11 Josh Adams (Wales), 10 Dan Biggar (Wales), 9 Conor Murray (captain, Ireland), 8 Taulupe Faletau (Wales), 7 Tom Curry (England), 6 Josh Navidi (Wales), 5 Iain Henderson (Ireland), 4 Maro Itoje (England), 3 Kyle Sinckler (England), 2 Ken Owens (Wales), 1 Wyn Jones (Wales)
Substitutes: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), 17 Mako Vunipola (England), 18 Zander Fagerson (Scotland), 19 Adam Beard (Wales), 20 Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), 21 Sam Simmonds (England), 22 Gareth Davies (Wales), 23 Elliot Daly (England)
