Boks' scrum guru weighs in on out-of-window Wales Test as dozen depart

The Springboks will be without a dozen of 2025’s best performers when they take the field in Cardiff this weekend, but that doesn’t dampen the expectations within camp for the world No. 1-ranked team.

The list of absentees includes the recently crowned World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year, Malcolm Marx, Thomas du Toit, Boan Venter, RG Snyman, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Grant Williams, Handre Pollard, Manie Libbok, Jesse Kriel, Cheslin Kolbe, and Edwill van der Merwe, all of whom are en route back to their respective clubs. Lood de Jager is also unavailable, as the lock is serving a four-game suspension for the red card he received against France.

While the departures force changes to Rassie Erasmus’ squad, the disruption was downplayed by Springboks scrum coach Daan Human, who said it would not be any different to other Tests, given the team’s usual squad rotation.

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

“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 Gallagher Premiership, while I’m also not sure if all their Vodacom 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.”

Regardless of which team is missing what talent, the Springboks come into the Test as undeniable favourites in the eyes of most, with winning form and results the theme of the Quilter Nations Series thus far for the Rugby Championship title holders. That doesn’t count for much in Human’s eyes, however.

“I don’t believe in favourites tags. It doesn’t help a team. You must have respect for the opposition, so we’ll do our best to prepare as well as we can for this match.”

With the coach overseeing one of rugby’s most powerful weapons, which made short work of Ireland’s retort over the weekend, Human is applying a similar, present-moment mentality to the Springboks’ scrum game.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

A second straight unbeaten northern tour is on the table for the Boks, and while Cradiff has been a happy hunting ground for the side since 2018, Human insisted there was no focus on records, just the game at hand.

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