Elstadt 'hungry' to play for Springboks, has sights on 2023 Rugby World Cup

Toulouse's South African loose forward Rynhardt Elstadt said his recent spell on the sidelines has made him hungrier than ever to play for the Springboks before Saturday's rerun of last season's Top 14 and European Champions Cup finals at home with La Rochelle.

Elstadt, 32, last featured for the Boks in July's opening Test loss to the British & Irish Lions before missing seven months of action due to an ankle injury suffered in training afterwards.

"It 100% has made me more hungry to play for South Africa. I only got a bit of a taste of it. I only played 18 minutes in that first Test and you can't do much in 18 minutes," he told AFP on Thursday.

"So to show that I'm really competitive and I really want to see if I can make a difference in the 2023 Rugby World Cup, if it's possible, to see if we can defend our title to the very end," he added.

The former Stormers flanker returned to the field with his French club in February and has been in brief contact with Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber about the three Tests against Wales in July.

"It's still early days for the July series coming up. We've been in touch just to see how I'm doing, if my ankle is all good am I physically and mentally all good," he said.

"There hasn't been any official squad announcement, we'll see what happens with that," he added.

This weekend, Elstadt's focus will be on maintaining Toulouse's push for the play-offs with just three games of the regular season remaining as well as next weekend's Champions Cup quarter-final with Munster.

The record 21-time French champions sit in the sixth and final spot for the end of season knock-outs and welcome back world player of the year Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack to the squad after they were rested for