Wembley clash designed to give Japan-based Bok stars valuable game time

SPRINGBOK head coach Rassie Erasmus has revealed that Saturday's Test match against Japan at Wembley Stadium was specifically arranged to give South Africa's Japan-based players crucial game time ahead of the big matches on their November tour.

- ROWAN CALLAGHAN

Speaking at a media conference yesterday when he named his team, Erasmus said the extra fixture had been planned well in advance to address a longstanding challenge faced by players plying their trade in the Japanese league.

“We actually organised this extra game against Japan especially for the guys who play in the Japanese league because they would not have played a lot of rugby if they didn’t play a lot of Test matches for us,” Erasmus said. “I think there are about 11 or 12 guys - including Manie (Libbok) - who play in the Japanese league.

“The plan was always to get these guys together because we've found in the past that when we went on the end-of-year tour previously, when we played Ireland and France and teams like that, we had a bit of a slow start because some of our players were based in Japan and hadn't really played a lot of rugby. And that’s why this fixture is here.”