Leicester number 8 piques Springbok bosses' interest

Leicester’s hard-working number 8 Jasper Wiese may be handed higher honours soon as the 25 year-old has been linked with Springbok alignment camps ahead of the British & Irish Lions series commencing in July.

Wiese joined Tigers from the Cheetahs ahead of the 2020-21 season and has been in impressive form since.

His stats speak for themselves; in ten outings, he has run 616m, beating 45 defenders in the process while scoring three tries. On the defensive front, Wiese boasts a 91% tackle success record – which would impress any coaching staff.

However, an element of his game which needs working on is discipline, as Wiese has picked up two yellow cards and one red so far this season.

The Springboks currently enjoy the prodigious services of hard man Duane Vermeulen in the number 8 jersey, however, at 34, he is in the twilight years of his career. Could young Wiese be the man to fill Vermeulen’s formidable shoes?