SA Rugby has reportedly sent a request to the Japan Rugby Union for their clubs to release seven Springboks for the 26 November Test against England at Twickenham.
According to Sunday newspaper Rapport, the seven Springboks currently based in Japan are Pieter-Steph du Toit, Willie le Roux (both Toyota Verblitz), Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles), Elton Jantjies (NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes), Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears), Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) and Kwagga Smith (Blue Revs).
That list could increase to 10 if Faf de Klerk, Lood de Jager (both Sale Sharks) and Damian de Allende (Munster) end up joining Japanese clubs, after it was confirmed that all three players would be leaving their respective clubs at the end of the season.
The Boks will conclude their end-of-year tour in November against England at Twickenham. Unfortunately, the match falls outside of World Rugby’s official Test window, which means that SA Rugby will not be able to enforce Regulation 9 to get their overseas-based players released.
For the Test against England, Jacques Nienaber will almost certainly be without Joseph Dweba, Vincent Koch, Wilco Louw, RG Snyman, Jasper Wiese, Marco van Staden, Duane Vermeulen, Cobus Reinach, Handre Pollard and Cheslin Kolbe who are all currently based in Europe.
England have already reached an agreement with the Premiership clubs to have all of their top players available for the match, hence SA Rugby are hoping to reach a similar agreement with the Japanese clubs.
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