Boks forced to wait on English-based stars as clubs enforce World Rugby's Regulation 9

• Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber won't have his full squad complement until Monday for the Wales series.
• The English clubs have strictly enforced Regulation 9 of World Rugby that governs the release of players for international duty.
• Nienaber also said he's been impressed with the depth that's available to him.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber resigned himself to the fact he'll only be getting the England-based contingent of his squad next Monday.

The English Premiership season concluded on Saturday when the Leicester Tigers saw off Saracens in a tightly contested final at Twickenham.

However, Nienaber said Regulation 9 of World Rugby's rules when it comes to the release of players has been strictly enforced from an English perspective.

Flyhalf Handre Pollard still has a French Top 14 final while the Japanese clubs have released their players, but none from England.

Nienaber said there was nothing they could do to get those players back until Test week ahead of next week's first Test against Wales at Loftus Versfeld (July 2).

"Handre is still playing. Their final is only over the weekend. We don't have any of our Premiership players," Nienaber said

"They are only being released according to Regulation 9 of World Rugby, so they will only join us on Monday.

"We are fortunate to get the Japanese-based players. The Japanese rugby union said the players could start working with us a little bit earlier.

"The national unions sometimes agree with that, and sometimes they stay strictly with Regulation 9, so we have to abide by that.

"We will only get our Premiership players on Monday."

Three of the players Nienaber won't be getting back as quickly as he wanted was Leicester Tigers No 8 Jasper Wiese, Saracens prop Vincent Koch, and Harlequins centre Andre Esterhuizen.

Wiese was man-of-the-match in Leicester's 15-12 win over Saracens, while fellow number eights Evan Roos and Elrigh Louw slugged it out properly in the United Rugby Championship final between the Stormers and the Bulls.

However, loose forward Deon Fourie was the player of the match, but it was something that made Nienaber happy.

"It speaks volumes for the depth that we have and when you look at the above-mentioned players and look at Deon Fourie," Nienaber said.

"You look at Jasper Wiese putting in a man-of-the-match performance in the Premiership final, so our job is to make sure we're on every single player we follow.

"We make sure that we watch every single game they play, track every tackle, pass and kick. When you look at the squad, all the selected players are in form.

"The challenge we have is to ensure they're aligned to what we do, with the experienced ones clicking better because of being with us previously."

The importance of the first Test against Wales wasn't lost on Nienaber, especially with the Springboks playing all their home Tests last year behind closed doors because of Covid-19.

The last time they played in front of a home crowd was against Argentina at Loftus Versfeld in 2019 before they departed for the World Cup.

"We haven't played in front of a crowd since we won the World Cup. We haven't performed in front of our crowds as world champions," Nienaber said.

"The last time we played in front of a crowd in South Africa was against Argentina in 2019, which was the last game before we went to the World Cup.

"It's going to be massive for us and it'll be the same for the Wales players. They had a big contingent on the Lions tour."