Springbok battering ram Jasper Wiese faces a World Rugby disciplinary committee on Tuesday, following a headbutt on an Italian player during Saturday’s 45-0 victory.

Usually the foul play committee would meet without the player, their representatives or World Rugby, but perhaps to underline the serious nature of Wiese’s offence and given his patchy disciplinary record, he’s been asked to appear before a disciplinary panel.

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Last year, in his final match for the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership, the World Cup-winning loose forward was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle and subsequently banned for six matches.

But the Springbok management remain resolute in their support of Wiese.

Bok assistant coach Deon Davids says they trust the judicial process and the team has to deal with any eventuality.

“As a team, we will be there for Jasper regardless of what decision is made.”

In terms of cover, coach Rassie Erasmus has a number of specialist No 8’s unavailable to him. The likes of Cameron Hanekom, Juarno Augustus, Jean-Luc du Preez and now Wiese are out of contention which leaves only Evan Roos as the specialist.

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Davids feels even though they’re a bit thin in that department, they have enough players who can cover that position.

“We have versatile players in our squad, and players like Evan (Roos), Siya (Kolisi) and Marco (van Staden) can cover No 8, so we have a few players who can play there for us.”

The Springboks are not underestimating Georgia, despite comfortable wins over them in their two previous meetings – the most recent of those being a 40-9 victory at Loftus Versfeld in 2021.

Lock Ruan Nortje says despite only being ranked 11th in the world, the Georgian forwards will look to prove a point.

“Georgia are a tough team that have delivered a few good performances in the last few seasons, so we are preparing ourselves for an extremely physical and challenging match this weekend.”

Davids confirmed that all players are fit and available for selection, with Erasmus set to name the match-23 on Tuesday.

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

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