Etzebeth called up to Bok squad for remainder of Nations Championship

Young flyhalf Ahmed is on his way home after picking up a shoulder injury in training. The Springboks’ most-capped Test player, Eben Etzebeth, is on his way to France to join the national squad for the remainder of the Nations Championship. Etzebeth, who has won 147 caps, will replace rookie No 10 Yaqeen Ahmed, who has been ruled out of the tour with a shoulder niggle. Etzebeth missed out on initial selection because of an undisclosed injury. The Boks face France in Paris this weekend, after beating Italy in Turin on Saturday. The 20-year-old Ahmed, one of six uncapped players in the squad, was sidelined with a sore shoulder which saw him miss most of the training sessions in the build-up to this last weekend’s game in Turin. Backline cover “We are very sad for Yaqeen after earning his first call-up to the national squad, but we feel it will be best for him to return to South Africa to recover,” said Bok boss Rassie Erasmus on Sunday. “After being with us for a week, he has a good idea of how we operate and has more insight into our systems, and we are confident that the experience will benefit him immensely as a player going forward. “With enough backline cover in the squad and a number of versatile players among them, we opted to call up Eben, who will not only bring vast experience to the group at this vital stage of the Nations Championship, but also valuable leadership skills, especially with two important matches against France and Ireland in the next two weeks before the Finals Weekend of the tournament.” The five remaining uncapped players in the squad are Riley Norton, Luan Giliomee, Emmanual Tshituka, Markus Muller and Sebastian de Klerk. With Etzebeth recalled, Erasmus has more options at lock, especially as it is unclear if Salmaan Moerat is over the back spasms that ruled him out of the Test against Italy, minutes before kick-off. Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, Ruan Nortje, Norton and Etzebeth are now the other lock options. Of course Pieter-Steph du Toit could also play lock in an emergency. Erasmus will name his match-23 to face France on Monday. It will be interesting to see if the Bok coach picked Etzebeth immediately, or only considers him for next week’s Test against Ireland in Dublin.