Duane Vermeulen expects Boan Venter’s Scottish expertise to ignite Springbok scrum battle

One of the aces up the sleeve of the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday (kick-off 5.40pm) against Scotland is loosehead prop Boan Venter, who has been at the United Rugby Championship (URC) club Edinburgh for so long, he is almost wearing a kilt.

This much was confirmed by Duane Vermeulen, the SA Rugby Mobi-Unit coach, who is on duty with the Boks during the current batch of Nations Championship clashes.

“We have a big scrumming day on Wednesday, and Boan is licking his lips — he has a lot to contribute,” the former Bok No 8 said of Venter, who played 95 times for Edinburgh and is now on his way to the Lions for the 2026/27 URC season.

Most of the Scotland team are from the URC teams Glasgow and Edinburgh, particularly the front- rowers.

“Boan knows quite a bit about their props, and they know quite a bit about him,” Vermeulen said. “The scrums should be a good battle.

“We have seen from the URC that the Scottish packs stay in the fight. Obviously, we want to take them on physically, but they’re well coached, and they know exactly what they want to achieve.”

Vermeulen pointed out that both the Warriors and Edinburgh enjoy playing with the width of the field.

“Scotland are a really fit side, a skilful side; they want to take the ball wide, touchline to touchline, and they’ve got really mobile forwards.

“Everyone looks at the attack, but they’ve got a very strong defence as well. We’ve assessed that, and we’re working really hard on it,” Vermeulen said.

Vermeulen said that the first round of the Nations Championship revealed a new trend related to the revised laws on the defending of the mauls.

“There are fewer first-phase strikes. It’s about who can transition the quickest off turnovers. That’s a big thing every team is working on.”