Erasmus comments on Jantjies’ future

The future of Elton Jantjies has been bleak in the national rugby team, although no one is questioning it yet. This is very clear when Rassie Erasmus was asked about him after he was not included in the list of Springbok players who are preparing to visit Europe before the end of the year.

Jantjies, 32, left the Boks camp when they visited Argentina last month. There was news that he had been having an affair with Zeenat Simjee, the team’s dietician. No action was taken against the pair by South African Rugby (Saru). Jantjies was not picked by Jacques Nienaber. Immediately, people questioned what happened to Jantjies.

“There was a report that came out last month. We agreed with Jantjies, for him to take time to deal with it. The problem we have is that we do not even know what is true and what is not true,” said Erasmus while speaking to reporters at the beginning of the week.

Rassie had to say something because since the day reports emerged that Jantjies was having an affair with Simjee, Saru never critiqued the situation.

“Because he has not played since then, we cannot call him to the national team. We would like to compare him with other fly-halves, but we cannot because he is not playing. There are no games he is currently playing like other players.

“He was not able to be part of the national team that played against New Zealand last month. The only reason why we did not choose him is because he is not playing. There is nothing else,” said Erasmus.

Jantjies plays for a Japanese team but since the day of the rumoured affair, he has not returned to the team.

On the other hand, Erasmus has confirmed that Zeenat Simjee will travel with Springboks when they travel to Europe. It is possible that Jantjies will miss the world cup because the Springboks are preparing for it.

Jantjies was replaced by Damian Willemse who plays for the Stormers. Although he is still being introduced to the national team, Nienaber says he is ready to join the team.