Pick the man to wear the famous No 6 jersey for the Springboks at the World Cup in the absence of injured captain Siya Kolisi.
Kolisi’s participation in this year’s World Cup is in jeopardy after scans on the Springbok skipper’s injured right knee revealed a torn ACL.
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The Sharks captain suffered the injury in the opening 10 minutes of the clash against Munster in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
He is now in a race against time as he contemplates his options – corrective surgery would certainly rule him out of the tournament in France.
MORE: Siya’s World Cup in doubt
The Bok coaches will have to make a decision about who to promote to the captaincy, and then there’s the matter of filling the No 6 jersey, if Kolisi doesn’t make it to the World Cup.
Of course, there are plenty of promising candidates. Kwagga Smith has donned the No 6 jersey most often in Kolisi’s absence during the Rassie Erasmus era. The Japan-based flanker also captains his side, the Blue Revs and is coming off a solid League One campaign.
Toulouse’s Rynhardt Elstadt and the Vodacom Bulls’ Marcell Coetzee have also started at openside flank under Erasmus and Nienaber, while DHL Stormers veteran Deon Fourie made his Test debut at openside flank in 2022.
Having made a successful return to the Vodacom Bulls after leaving Leicester Tigers last year due to concussion problems, Marco van Staden is another potential option. Veteran Duane Vermeulen’s ground skills are the stuff of legend, which could prompt Erasmus to start one of Jasper Wiese, Evan Roos or Elrigh Louw at No 8 and deploy Vermeulen as an openside.
And then there’s Jaco Kriel – the 33-year-old is less than a week removed from retiring, but the Bok coach has a soft spot for redemption stories and the former Lions breakaway would surely consider pausing his lawn bowls commitments to add to his tally of 11 Test caps.
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