Difficult call for Bok coach

Will Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus be bold enough to think outside the box and select Embrose Papier (below) at scrumhalf tomorrow, or will he fall back on the safer option of Ivan van Zyl?

This position was forced onto Erasmus after Faf de Klerk was released back to Sale Sharks and was ruled out of the Scotland Test in Edinburgh this weekend.

While Papier was the more instinctive player, and more similar in style to De Klerk, Van Zyl was a great tactical player and more of a reliable No 9 with a better kicking ability than his Bulls team-mate.

This was not the only headache for Erasmus, who admitted he had some tough selection calls to make, with No 8 Warren Whiteley in doubt for this week’s clash.

“Warren has a calf injury and I would say he is doubtful,” Erasmus confirmed, though not yet officially ruling Whiteley out.

“Vincent Koch and Frans Malherbe (props) both have some bumps, but I think they’ll be fit.”

While lock Eben Etzebeth had returned to training, Erasmus was expected to give him until tomorrow to show he is over the ankle injury which kept him out of the Test against France last week.

Erasmus, meanwhile, pointed out that he had personal experience coaching against his Scottish counterpart Gregor Townsend when the Bok mentor was with Munster.

Townsend stunned the rugby world in the Six Nations earlier this year when his side beat England.

“I know how he coaches and his style of coaching,” Erasmus said.

“His teams are always very fit and organised in all facets of the game.”

With a lot of Glasgow players in the Scotland team, Erasmus believed it was going to be a tough fixture at Murrayfield on Saturday.

“They employ a similar style of play to Super Rugby sides and are tactically very good,” he said.