As the Test against the Dragons falls outside of the international window, several players have returned to their respective clubs as the United Rugby Championship resumes on the weekend.

Players that will not be available include RG Snyman, Boan Venter, Grant Williams, Handré Pollard, Manie Libbok, and Edwill van der Merwe who will all join their URC teams. In addition, World Rugby Player of the Year, Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jesse Kriel, and Cheslin Kolbe all return to their Japanese clubs.

Daan Human - Morgan Piek

There are more players such as Lood de Jager who is serving a suspension and will not come into contention.

The Springbok scrum coach, Daan Human, is however of the view that as a lot of players are not available, it is something that is not new or strange, as they have generally been chopping and changing their teams all year, but they are also mindful of respecting their opponent on the day.

“We basically play with different teams or make a lot of changes week in and week out, so we are used to it,” said Human.

“That said, it’s always a loss not to have some of your top players available, but I would imagine it would be the same for Wales with some of their players participating in the Premiership, while I’m also not sure if all their United Rugby Championship players will be available.

“The good thing is that it presents another opportunity for some of the younger players because we have guys available who played last week against Ireland and others who played against Italy, so there is no one new in the travelling squad.”

While the Springboks scrum is arguably the best in the world, as they showcased with an extremely dominant performance against Ireland, Human warned that the Welsh have a proud history regarding their forwards and front-rowers, and they will want to atone against the world champions after their heavy defeat against the All Blacks.

World Rugby Player of the Year, Malcom Marx, is not available for the Test against Wales - Morgan Piek

“My father always says, don’t tell me what you are going to do, tell me what you’ve done, so we’ll see what happens,” Human added.

“Wales have quality players, especially their starting front row, and in general they have guys who can really perform and some with a lot of experience, which is quite similar to our team.

“We set goals at the beginning of the year, and there’s only one game left, so it would be a great achievement if we can get it right.

“But we don’t think about records and being unbeaten, we simply focus on the next game.”

Saturday’s season-ending Test against Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff will kick off at 17:10.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport