The Vodacom United Rugby Championship announced on Friday that this weekend’s round six matches in South Africa and next weekend’s round seven matches have been postponed due to a new Covid-19 variant.
SA Rugby and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus have officially withdrawn the appeal against the ban handed down by World Rugby and apologised to referee Nic Berry.
Damian Willemse, Marvin Orie and Salmaan Moerat are back in training with the Stormers and are all expected to be involved in Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against Zebre in Cape Town.
During a SuperSport studio chat, Nick Mallett said that World Rugby was correct to hand Rassie Erasmus a ban, but lamented the length of time the independent committee took to come to a decision.
The Springboks will finish the year with a nearly two-point lead over the second-placed All Blacks in the World Rugby rankings.
Marcus Smith kicked a 79th-minute penalty to give England a one-point win over the Springboks in a thrilling see-saw encounter at Twickenham on Saturday.
Gregor Townsend has accused Rassie Erasmus of ‘character assassination’ for instructing Springbok fullback Willie le Roux to target a Scotland player during last weekend’s Test at Murrayfield.
SA Rugby’s preliminary fixture list for 2022 has the Springboks down for four fixtures against Wales, while the SA ‘A’ team is also scheduled for two fixtures next year.
An independent committee has found SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus guilty of misconduct towards match officials during the series between the Springboks and British & Irish Lions.
Coach Jacques Nienaber says South Africa’s lack of representation at the World Rugby awards is inconsequential for their performance against England on Saturday.