Juarno Augustus remains in Rassie Erasmus's thinking for the Springboks despite being omitted from the Nations Championship squad, with the Ulster back-rower sidelined through injury rather than falling out of favour.
Erasmus confirmed Augustus is tracked as part of the Springboks' depth chart at number eight, placing him alongside Evan Roos, Jasper Wiese, Cameron Hanekom, Vincent Tshituka, Marco van Staden, Cobus Wiese and a potentially returning Elrigh Louw as candidates for the position.
"We track all players from all competitions that we think can play for us when we do our depth chart, and we try to take five, six deep in a position, and Juarno is definitely in that scope, but he's still injured, and unfortunately, he's not available," Erasmus said. "Hopefully we can give him a chance somewhere, but at this stage he's unfortunately injured."
Augustus was first included in a Springbok squad for the 2025 July series but missed his debut through injury — a luckless sequence that has now extended a further 12 months. He made the move from the Stormers to Northampton Saints in 2021, contributing to their Premiership title win and Champions Cup campaign before joining Ulster, where he impressed in his debut season.
Erasmus did not specify the nature or severity of the current injury but indicated the squad is not fixed for the full Nations Championship window. "This squad is not the only guys that we will use for the first three Test matches, and after that, there are some massive matches and the squad will definitely rotate," he said.