Monday 5 November 2018 13:38, UK
Scrum-half Faf de Klerk has joined up with the South Africa squad ahead of their Test against France in Paris on Saturday.
De Klerk was initially rested for the autumn internationals and watched from the stands at Twickenham on Saturday as the Springboks lost 12-11 to England.
But Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus has now taken the decision to call up De Klerk, who has been nominated for the World Rugby Player of the Year award for 2018.
With De Klerk out and Ross Cronje injured, South Africa were left with an inexperienced trio of scrum-halves in Louis Schreuder, Embrose Papier and Ivan van Zyl, who have just eight caps between them. Van Zyl started against England with Papier coming off the bench.
De Klerk was one of a number of Europe-based Springbok players unavailable for the Test against England, due to the game falling outside the international window.
Full-back Willie le Roux, wings Gio Aplon and Cheslin Kolbe, loose-forward Francois Louw, lock Franco Mostert and prop Vincent Koch all return for the Test against France.
Erasmus said: "It's good to welcome Faf, Willie, Cheslin and the others back into the squad.
"They have valuable experience and knowledge of European conditions and we are looking forward to working with them again. All of them are available for selection this weekend."
Erasmus also revealed Eben Etzebeth has a good chance to be considered for the French Test despite injuring his foot against England.
It had been initially he could miss the rest of the autumn Tests after limping off at Twickenham.
Erasmus added: "The injury is not as bad as we initially thought and we will give Eben time until Tuesday to prove his fitness."
After South Africa's meeting with France, they play Tests against Scotland and Wales later in November.