Brian Mujati lined up as ‘Player 32’ in Bok squad

When EWN Sport contacted the CEO of Northampton, Allan Robson, he was not able to shed any light on the matter, saying no direct contact had yet been made with the club - but that it was possible the player had been approached directly.

Earlier in the week, Meyer said in a press conference that they were talking to the “club” of the 32nd player about a possible selection.

If Meyer is not able to select Mujati, Western Province tighthead Frans Malherbe - who was flown out at short notice for the Rugby Championship game in New Zealand - is likely fill the last place in the squad.

Toulouse prop Gurthro Steenkamp, who was a substitute in Toulouse’s 32-13 win over Racing Metro in the France Top 14 on Thursday, flew to Paris on Friday to sort out his United Kingdom visa for the trip. He will first be cleared by his own medical staff at the French club, before reporting for Springbok duty in Dublin.

The prop situation is clearly one of concern for Meyer.  Incumbent tighthead du Plessis did not link up with the squad in Cape Town ahead of the trip, as he was given the week off to rest by Meyer, after a monumental workload in 2012 already.

With only 5 props selected in the tour group - Pat Cilliers, Tendai Mtawarira, CJ van der Linde, Steenkamp and du Plessis - it stands to reason that Meyer will be looking for one other.

On this tour, match-day squads will consist of 23 players, with a full replacement front row on the bench to prevent the game going to uncontested scrums.  

Should the Boks undergo a real crisis on their arrival in Dublin, they could call on the immediate likes of BJ Botha, Wian du Preez and Heinke van der Merwe - who are Springboks and currently plying their trade in Ireland

Meyer has a problem here - Mujati is not an SA Citizen and he cannot qualify at all at this stage - he is more likely to qualify for British  citizenship than South African.    That rules him out of contention.

Meyer made a huge mess with his prop selection.   Steenkamp is a joke in bad taste and Van der Linde is over the hill.  Cilliers is poor as well.   Of the two mentioned Heinke is a strong scrummager and may be the pick.   There is a rumour that Meyer may call up Malherbe - he did so in the past and is likely to do that again.      

I do not think this is anything - but a newspaper story in a period of lack of news on Rugby issues.   At the time when Mujati played for the Springboks previously - there was no citizen requirement in place - the IRB now requires that a player can only represent a country if he is a citizen of that country.

Mujati is as far as I am aware not a citizen of South Africa - he is a Zimbabwean.   Meyer no doubt tried to find out whether he would be eligible to play for SA - but I think he drew a blank.   The Club apparently does not even know that he be asked to join the Springbok team  so I do not think it would materialize.

Sorry - but I differ from you here.

The IRB intorduced stricter controls to stop poaching of players by countries - that is definitely a fact.   That is why there was such a fuss recently about the Beast - his citizenship application was in fact fast-tracked so as to allow for him to continue playing for the Springboks - othewise he would not have been allowed to play any further matches for the Springboks.   The Government has nothing to do with this one - it is an IRB reqyurwment.

It only applies to the National Teams.   Any p[layer can on lower level play for any team in the World - as is the case you mentioned.   There is one further condition though - if a player has played for the Bational team - he cannot play for the national team of another country. without a lapse of three years.   That is not applicable in the case of Josh Strauss - the three year period applicable in that case is normally equated with applicayion for citizenship - nothing else.

8.1 Subject to Regulation 8.2, a Player may only play for the senior fifteen-aside
National Representative Team, the next senior fifteen-a-side National
Representative Team and the senior National Representative Sevens Team
of the Union of the country in which:
(a) he was born; or
(b) one parent or grandparent was born; or
(c) he has completed thirty six consecutive months of Residence immediately preceding the time of playing.