Rassie Erasmus has explained his decision to omit in-form Stormers No 8 Evan Roos from the Springboks’ 36-man end-of-year tour squad.
Roos, who has scored four tries in four URC matches this season, could only crack the 10-man standby group.
The 25-year-old has made just one Test appearance this year – off the bench against Italy in Port Elizabeth – and earned eight caps in total since his Bok debut in 2022.
KEO: Rampant Roos must keep on knocking on Rassie’s door
Erasmus was asked on X: “What happened between you and Roos, Oom? You need to clear the air cause this isn’t a normal situation.”
The Bok boss replied: “My friend, he’s a world-class player and will play many Test matches for the Boks, we just have two really good eights in Jasper [Wiese] and Kwagga [Smith] and in my opinion they are still delivering at a higher level than Evan! So who to drop? One thing is a given, he is a Test match player and will probably make it in 2027.”
POLL: Should rampant Roos be in Bok squad?
My friend his a world class player and will play many test matches for the Boks, we just have to really good eights in Jasper en Kwagga and in my opinion they are still delivering at a higher level than Evan!! So who to. dropp🤷🏼♂️ One thing is a given he is a test match player and… https://t.co/IwFff2h8bm
— Johan Erasmus (@RassieRugby) October 23, 2025
Photo: Cole Cruickshank/Gallo Images