With Jannie du Plessis out for the End Of Year Tours for the Springboks it seems likely that Frans Malherbe will make his debut for the Springboks.

With Du Plessis out, only two options remain at tighthead prop and these are Frans Malherbe and Lourens Adriaanse, who are both uncapped.

This position remains a big problem for the Springboks as Du Plessis is the only experienced No 3 of international quality in South Africa at present. The time has however come to see if either Malherbe or Adriaanse can cut the mustard on an international level at th same time create some depth for the Springboks, for the future.

Expectations were that that Meyer would play Coenie Oosthuizen at No 3. Meyer said the following regarding this matter: “Our plan to groom Coenie Oosthuizen as a tighthead is a long-term one.”

The question was also raised regarding the lock pairing and who should play and who should come off the bench. Meyer said: “Pieter-Steph’s general play is up there with the best in the world. The trouble however is that – within our system – the No 5 lock needs to take the lead in the lineouts. You can’t expect that from him in his first Test.”

We could see quite a few changes to the different match day squads on tour, compared to what we saw during The Rugby Championship, with likely changes being Jaque Fourie starting ahead of JJ Engelbrecht and JP Pietersen starting on the wing in place of Willie le Roux, with Willie le Roux possibly moving back to fullback.

The official team announcement will be on Wednesday.