Wilco Louw would be most international teams’ starting tighthead prop. But such is the abundance of talent in South Africa in that position, that he hasn’t featured for the Springboks for three years. Louw is an intimidating operator at scrum time, because of his, well, solidly built body.
During the start of his career at the Stormers, his teammates gave him the nickname “fridge”, as Louw is big and rarely moves (backwards) ...
But Louw, who now plays for the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship after a stint in England with Harlequins, is now back in the Springboks’ set-up after he was added to the squad for the November tour following the injury to utility forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels. The Boks’ “Swiss Army knife” Wessels , who is equally adept at loose-head prop and hooker, was named in the initial 34-man squad on Tuesday. However, he has subsequently been ruled out of contention after it emerged that he suffered an ankle injury in the Bulls’ URC clash against the Scarlets last Saturday.
Coach Rassie Erasmus also called up Bulls hooker Johan Grobbelaar, who had been a regular member of the Bok squad this season and started the Tests against Portugal in Bloemfontein and Australia in Perth. Squad update: Jan-Hendrik Wessels has been ruled out of the #Springboks ' tour due to injury, with two of his @BlueBullsRugby team-mates called up as replacements - more here: https://t.co/QppBEOYg3b 🚑 #ForeverGreenForeverGold pic.
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