Rassie keeps tabs on Baby Bok's potential England call-up
SPOTLIGHT: Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus shared his insight regarding a Junior Springbok player who is eligible for England selection.
Bristol Bears centre Benhard Janse van Rensburg has been cleared by World Rugby to represent Steve Borthwick’s England due to his situation being an “exceptional case”.
Janse van Rensburg represented the Junior Boks in 2016 after being flown in late as emergency cover, playing just 20 minutes off the bench in the third-place play-off against Argentina.
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The Rugby Football Union’s argument that Janse Van Rensburg’s brief involvement in the tournament shouldn’t prevent him from reaching higher honours with an adopted nation.
Erasmus was asked whether the 28-year-old centre is on the Boks’ radar, and he admitted that they had a look at him.
However, he wouldn’t stand in his way should England call him up.
“He’s certainly a guy we’ve looked at on a couple of occasions when we started our succession planning.
“We asked ourselves: ‘Can he do it?’ and then we saw him have good games at club level and in the match for the Barbarians.
“And some of our coaches know him quite well. I know he’s eligible for England now.
“World Rugby found a special ruling in the regulation that prohibited guys from doing that, but they found a special [loophole] for him to switch allegiance.
“Also, we don’t want to stand in someone’s way who can make it for England.
“But if a few of [our] centres go down, he might be in the mix, but there’s also a lot of young guys in South Africa that we think can do it.
“But it’s good for him that they can play for them.”
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