Do Boks still need Brits?
RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP SPOTLIGHT: Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus revealed this week that their is still some uncertainty surrounding Schalk Brits’ playing future.
The 37-year-old Brits initially retired from rugby after the 2017/2018 European club season after representing Saracens for a number of seasons.
However, Erasmus added Brits to his Bok squad during the three-Test series against England in June and the hooker featured in the Boks’ 10-25 defeat to the English in the third Test at Newlands.
Brits was not included in the Boks’ Rugby Championship squad, but he is still very much part of Erasmus’ plans if things go pear-shaped with the hooker situation ahead of next year’s World Cup in Japan.
“If you look at the three hookers [Malcolm Marx, Armand van der Merwe and Bongi Mbonambi] we have currently, and we take them to the World Cup without Schalk Brits, I think you can win a World Cup with them,” said Erasmus.
“But I think if a guy like Malcolm goes down and we go into a World Cup and we’ve just got the other two boys and there is another injury, I think we are in trouble.
“That is why a guy like Bismarck [du Plessis] or Schalk Brits or someone like that- they might not even make the World Cup squad if the other boys stay fit, but again just in terms of solid experience and having been there and done that they are the next choice.”
In terms of Brits’ playing future, Erasmus added: “We are in the process of discussing it.
“He was going to retire. He is definitely fit enough to play, and he is in talks with a few clubs.
“I would like to try him here or there to keep him in the mix and to keep him interested, so if we have to press on his number we can, but it hasn’t been sorted out yet.”
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