Champagne placed on ice for salt-of-the-earth Malherbe

Sport24 chief writer

You could call it almost the completion of a happy circle when it comes to senior Springbok tight-five resources.

Although his retention would have been highly anticipated – even keeping in mind coach Jacques Nienaber’s penchant for selection quirkiness – Frans Malherbe will duly join the swelling "50 club" in the feared heart of the Bok engine room at Ellis Park on Saturday. 

That was confirmed when Nienaber revealed his hand on Tuesday (featuring some rejigs that few could quibble too greatly with) for the latest Rugby Championship clash with the fragile All Blacks.

The hefty, 31-year-old Malherbe gets his third consecutive start as tighthead anchor-man, after probably only seeing that sequence curtailed because the mastermind opted to field a highly experimental team in the middle Test against Wales recently.

But the Paarl Boys' High product began successive victories over the Welsh at Cape Town Stadium and then also last weekend’s 26-10 thumping of the All Blacks at Nelspruit, his don’t-give-an-inch ethic at scrum time abundantly evident each time.

Those triumphs helped advance Malherbe’s win percentage, from his currently 49 caps, to an impressive near-70% (69.39%… 34 victories, plus one draw).

He has now also played seven Tests specifically against the All Blacks, and last weekend’s triumph boosted his bilateral record a little to two wins and a draw from seven outings.

The first had been as No 3 starter in the World Cup semi-final of 2015 at Twickenham, when the then much more celebrated All Blacks under Richie McCaw earned a hard-fought but deserved 20-18 result – Malherbe packed down against presently injured loosehead Joe Moody.

He would almost certainly have begun, remember, the 2021 Test at the