Dave Rennie expects Cam Roigard to be available for Saturday's first Test against the Springboks at Ellis Park, despite the All Blacks being short-handed at scrumhalf after Cortez Ratima suffered a posterior cruciate ligament injury during the match against the Bulls.
Rennie confirmed Ratima underwent a scan that revealed the PCL damage, prompting the call-up of Noah Hotham as injury cover. Kyle Preston remains in the mix as a third option should Ratima not recover in time, with Hotham potentially required for midweek duty. Rennie said he would monitor Ratima's condition over the next 48 hours.
On Roigard, Rennie was relaxed despite his starting scrumhalf having had limited recent game time since the Nations Championship win over Ireland. "Cam's played a hell of a lot of rugby this year, so him not playing so much lately is not a bad thing," Rennie said. "We expect Cam to be ready to go at the weekend."
Rennie will name his 23-man squad on Thursday. He acknowledged the depth available across the series, indicating he expects to rotate through 30-odd players across the four Tests, giving fringe players opportunities beyond the opener.
On the pre-match referee discussions, Rennie confirmed Erasmus declined a meeting, with communication kept to an email chain covering key areas of focus including time-wasting. Rennie said he was comfortable with the arrangement. "We've had conversations via email, and we've got a summary sent to us this morning. So we're pretty clear."