Rassie Erasmus has shed further light on Elton Jantjies’ future with the Springboks, while confirming that team dietician Zeenat Simjee will return on the outgoing tour to Europe.
Jantjies has not played for the Springboks since coming off the bench in the Rugby Championship Test against the Wallabies in Sydney on 27 August.
The 32-year-old was sent home from the Bok camp in Argentina in September to attend to “personal reports” amid accusations of inappropriate behaviour. This came after reports broke of an alleged affair with Springbok team dietician Simjee, something which both parties later denied.
Neither Jantjies nor Simjee were considered to have breached team protocol.
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Jantjies was not selected in a 26-man Springbok training squad for the outgoing tour to Europe, which included players based in South Africa and Japan. Johan Goosen is the only out-and-out flyhalf in the squad.
While SA Rugby has been tight-lipped over Jantjies’ future with the team, Erasmus on Tuesday explained the situation during a wide-ranging media conference.
“There was that personal reporting on him while we were on tour just before a really important Test match, and we mutually agreed with Elton that we would allow him to go back home and handle these personal matters,” said Erasmus. “We didn’t know what was true and what was not true.
“Since that, he hasn’t played any rugby, so for us to be able to select him currently … we just haven’t seen him play. What we would love to do is just compare him to the other flyhalves on pure form, but unfortunately we couldn’t do that on Elton because he hasn’t played since.
“Elton is a Japanese player, he’s not contracted to SA Rugby, he’s not a Poni [player of national interest],” added Erasmus.
“If he’s not involved during a match week, then he’s free to take the weekend off in his personal capacity. We can’t be held responsible if a guy isn’t paying his water and electricity bill. What he does in his personal capacity is his business.
“He wasn’t part of the match squad [for the All Blacks that weekend], so he broke no team protocols. The only reason we’re not selecting him is that he’s not playing any rugby currently. We can’t compare him to fellow flyhalves for now, but a fit Elton Jantjies is four years younger than [Ireland captain] Jonny Sexton and if he plays good rugby, the door will always be open for him.”
Erasmus confirmed that Simjee would definitely rejoin the team for the tour, where the Springboks will face Ireland, France, Italy and England.
“Zeenat is definitely joining us. I just want to reiterate that she wasn’t sent home as part of a sanctioning. She came back to merely deal with personal reports that were written about her,” said Erasmus.
“The alleged incidents happened when the Springboks weren’t in [the match-week] camp. She went home to be closer to her family and to deal with the reports. None of those reported events happened when we were in camp.
“She wasn’t punished at all. She needed to get to her family, specifically her father and get some assistance, whether it was legal or emotional support for going through a difficult time.”
Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
