Veteran utility back Jesse Kriel has his fingers crossed that he gets a shot with the Springboks when they defend their Rugby World Cup title next year.

Kriel earned a bronze medal at the 2015 tournament after starting six of the Boks’ seven Tests and, while he received a gold medal in 2019, his campaign lasted just one match due to a hamstring strain.

His experience and versatility has made him a big asset for South Africa, switching seamlessly between centre and wing as a senior player in an enlarged national squad this season.

Speaking on the latest episode of the ‘Offload Podcast’, the 59-Test-capped Kriel shared his hopes of pulling on the green and gold jersey at France 2023, while unpacking the Boks’ November tour to Europe.

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The Boks lost to top-ranked Ireland and France before thrashing Italy and beating England in London for the first time since 2014.

“Any loss in a Springbok jersey is tough so I wouldn’t put one more or put one higher than the other one, I think both of them, we were obviously gutted,” Kriel said.

“There were two pretty decent performances, and we did our homework on both teams, but I think we all know the big games are obviously next year at the World Cup.

“We’ve kind of got our answers from the games that we needed to get and everyone’s kind of sure [on] what we need to do.

“I think that’s kind of the most important thing that we got out of the Autumn Series.”

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“We know that we might have to take on both of them [Ireland and France],” he added.

“Both are really good teams, and we’ll probably play both of them if I’m selected in the squad, I don’t even know if I’m going to be there yet. Let’s first get selected.”

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