‘Retired’ Brits gets Boks call
ENGLAND are destined to face a familiar dangerous foe in Bloemfontein on Saturday after South Africa recalled ex-Saracens hooker Schalk Brits, who retired a fortnight ago. The 37-year-old (below) finished his club career as part of the Sarries squad who reclaimed the Aviva Premiership title last month. His appearance as a replacement in the final against Exeter was supposed to be his final act as a professional player and three days ago he was watching the Springboks win the first Test at Ellis Park as a fan. However, yesterday Brits was recalled to the squad in the absence of Malcolm Marx and Bismarck du Plessis, South Africa’s leading hookers. Now he is in line to win his 11th cap and could find himself in a head-to-head with Jamie George, whom he helped to develop into a Test hooker at Saracens. ‘We’ll definitely consider him for the matchday 23,’ said Boks head coach Rassie Erasmus. ‘He knows a lot of English players. We can learn from him. But he’s not here just to be a “coach”. You have to remember what a quality player he is. He won the Premiership a couple of weeks ago, so he’s still on the ball.’ Meanwhile, England also called up a hooker, Worcester’s Jack Singleton, as cover for Luke Cowan-Dickie, who has a tight hamstring. Singleton was on holiday when he got the call.