Benhard Janse van Rensburg has rejected Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus's claim that he held talks about playing for South Africa before making his England debut this summer.
The Bristol Bears centre qualified for England on residency, despite having previously played for South Africa U20s. Rugby Football Union lawyers were able to argue that the fixture he played in was not a capture game, meaning he was free to make his debut in this summer's Nations Championship.
He made his debut off the bench against Fiji in Liverpool, scoring a try in England's victory at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Erasmus's claim
However, the week before - in the build-up to England's first Nations Championship match against South Africa - Erasmus had thrown a verbal grenade by claiming they had been in contact with the 29-year-old midfielder about a call-up.
“If I tell the honest truth with him – and I hope I don’t drop anybody in it – we had conversations with him [Van Rensburg] and he was very keen to come but then my CEO asked me a way back are you going to try…. ‘are you interested in Benhard Janse van Rensburg?’ and I said ‘yes obviously we are, but we just want to see in our pecking order where he will get time’,” Erasmus said.
The World Cup-winning mastermind would also claim he was blocked from pursuing van Rensburg by a commitment he had made to his chief executive not to block England's move.
Van Rensburg's response
However, van Rensburg insists no talks ever took place.
“I only heard about it because my dad told me Rassie had said it,” Van Rensburg told the BBC Rugby Union Weekly podcast. “I would have probably loved to [play for South Africa], but really every team I play for, I want to do my best and whatever comes after that, comes after that.
“When Rassie said he wanted to pick me, I was in the dark. I hadn’t heard anything from them. Whatever he said, whether that was true or not, I didn’t know about it.”
Selection controversy
The Bristol centre's call-up, beyond any mischief by Erasmus, was already contentious enough.
A host of past England players, including Mike Tindall, Jeremy Guscott and Simon Halliday, had criticised his selection over English-born options.
Van Rensburg said he understood why there was such hysteria around his call-up, but insisted he wasn't affected by the noise at all.
“It is understandable that that there’s going to be some people that don’t like it and some people that do like it,” he said.
“People probably still have their thoughts and how they feel about it. For me, I probably can’t prove them wrong.
“I just want to do my best for whichever team I play for. It’s an honour and a privilege to go to that next level of playing rugby.”
