Evan Roos back with a bang and ready to rumble for Boks against Wales

Springbok loose forward Evan Roos is back with a bang and ready to rumble when the Boks open their international campaign against Wales at Twickenham on Saturday afternoon.

Roos has been part of the Bok setup for two years now, since making his debut against Wales in Bloemfontein in July 2022, but he has been unable to become a regular starter, making five appearances in that time.

His last game for the Boks was in their Rugby World Cup warm-up against Argentina in Buenos Aires last year, after which he missed out on selection for the World Cup squad.

He is thus excited to be back in the mix and is looking forward to making a big impact against the Welsh this weekend.

“It’s awesome to be back in the team, and everyone is very excited about the match. We want to build on what the team has done in the last six years, so there’s a massive responsibility on us to start off this weekend with a bang,” said Roos.

Opportunity at eighthman

It has been a fantastic franchise season for Roos, in which he has had the added responsibility of playing outside of his preferred position, having been deployed on either side of the scrum at various stages, which has helped improve his overall game.

But he has a massive chance to establish himself at eighthman, with Duane Vermeulen having retired and Jasper Wiese being banned, which gives him the opportunity to prove his worth over the coming matches.

He will be backed up in the loose trio against Wales by the experienced duo of captain Pieter-Steph du Toit and Kwagga Smith, which should help him ease into his role.

“I’ll be playing with a bunch of Rugby World Cup winners in the pack, which makes my job much easier. I’ve known these guys for about three years, and it certainly gets more comfortable each time I’m in camp,” said Roos.

Important game

Despite the match falling outside the international window, and the fact that the Boks will likely add a number of players to the squad when their European-based and Bulls players are available for selection, it is still a vitally important game to build towards their massive incoming series against Ireland.

Roos also expects Wales to give them a good test to see where they are ahead of a huge season that includes the Rugby Championship and end-of-year-tour, which the Boks will be hoping to impress in after last year’s World Cup triumph.

“They (Wales) are a lot like us South Africans. They are hard-working and humble people, so we expect them to give everything for the full 80 minutes. Much like us they are willing to go to dark places, so we are anticipating a hard grind up front,” said Roos.

“They are a physical pack, so I think it’s going to be a proper Test match this weekend. It’s an important Test, so it will be vital to implement what we’ve been working on at training.

“Every team plays to win, so we’ll definitely do our best this weekend and try to make it as easy as possible and special for the guys making their debuts.”