Extra Bok Test is not at all bad

The Springboks will battle it out against England outside of the international rugby Test window for the second time in four years when they meet at Twickenham on Saturday.

It has become a regular occurrence over the years when playing four games on the endof-year tour that one of the matches will fall outside of the Test window, which the Boks are used to by now, but it does impact on team selection.

Last year’s end-of-year tour saw the Boks play three games, against Wales, Ireland and England, with all three in the Test window, allowing them to play a full-strength team in every game.

However, as in 2018, the Boks face England outside the window on Saturday.

With the Boks having a number of players playing club rugby in France and the UK, a match falling outside the Test window means those clubs recall their players.

This weekend the Boks will be missing regular starters like Cheslin Kolbe and Jasper Wiese, Vincent Koch and Trevor Nyakane are often in the match-23, while Cobus Reinach and Andre Esterhuizen are more fringe players.

England in contrast, and somewhat bizarrely, will be fielding a full-strength team as they have an agreement with their club sides that they can field their star players, despite the game being outside the international window.

This will obviously give the hosts a leg up, but it offers the Boks a chance to give some of their fringe players a run in a massive game in front of a partisan home crowd.

This is an important experience and one that will benefit players such as Evan Roos, Marvin Orie, Manie Libbok and Canan Moodie, where they may ordinarily not have received this opportunity.

So playing a game outside of the Test window is not a bad thing.

However it would be much better if the Boks were able to pick their opponents.

They would have wanted to field a full-strength side against a powerhouse like England, while a game against Italy outside the window may have been preferable.