Edinburgh hope to benefit from Boan Venter’s chance opportunity

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CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – AUGUST 23: Boan Venter of the Springboks during the Castle Lager Rugby Championship match between South Africa and Australia at DHL Stadium on August 23, 2025 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images) https://www.rugbypass.com/news/edinburgh-hope-to-benefit-from-boan-venters-chance-opportunity/

Edinburgh could restore Rugby Championship-winning prop Boan Venter straight back into their match-day squad for Friday’s URC fixture against Munster in Cork.

The 28-year-old missed the start of the season while on international duty but returned to training on Monday fresh from the Springboks’ celebrations after they clinched a second straight TRC title with a 29-27 victory over Argentina at Twickenham on Saturday.

Venter had previously declared his interest in qualifying for Scotland on residency grounds in February 2026, after arriving at Edinburgh from the Cheetahs in 2021.

But after answering a call from Rassie Erasmus back in July when South Africa were without several other loosehead props, Venter made a debut for his native country against Georgia and went on to feature four times during the Rugby Championship, including a start in their 67-30 demolition of Argentina in Durban.

“He’s really excited where he is, because earlier in the year he would never have thought that this opportunity would have arrived,” said Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt.

“It’s surreal the way he went in and ended up winning the Rugby Championship. South Africa under Rassie has only won it three times, so it’s not often that you get that opportunity.

“It’s great for him and I’m sure he’ll come back a better player. He can pass on the knowledge he’s gained to the rest of the squad, and particularly the youngsters around him. We’ll see how he gets through training today, but he will be up for selection if he comes through the week.”

After Friday, Edinburgh only have two more URC matches before Venter may be summoned for more Springboks duty, with the world champions playing five Tests – against Japan, France, Italy, Ireland and Wales – on five successive Saturdays across November, although the first and last of those are outside the official Test window.

Although there are currently no club games scheduled for 1 November, asked if Edinburgh would release Venter for the Boks’ match against Wales on 29 November, the same day Edinburgh host Scarlets in the URC, Everitt said: “That’ll be a discussion for later.”

After Storm Amy forced the postponement of last Friday’s visit of Ulster, Edinburgh are likely to have to play the rearranged fixture in an international window, either next month or during the Six Nations period, with no other free weekends in the season’s calendar.

Everitt says he has “no idea” yet when the game might be played, with URC officials still discussing an alternative date with the competition broadcasters Premier Sports.

“I do see that the South African teams are playing some of their derby games during the Six Nations break, but I don’t have a date yet,” he said.

“You can’t predict when teams are going to fall out of the European Cup either and who that is going to be, so we’re waiting with bated breath to see when that game will take place.”

Despite a lack of match action on Friday, Everitt intends to stick with his original plan to rotate some of the players who would have started against Ulster.

“It was extremely disappointing because we prepared really well for the game,” he said. “But I think Covid has taught us how to deal with these disruptions. The guys are pretty resilient with regards to that. We have to pretend that the game has been played and move on to a team that we had previously selected for Munster.

“We’ve planned these five weeks quite meticulously with regards to selection because it’s important that we do rotate our group within these five [URC] rounds to give everyone a decent opportunity to get some rhythm for selection, with the November Test series coming up as well as 10 weeks in a row in December and January.

“There might be guys who were named in the starting line-up last week – not many – who might not be included this week. But we’ve also got guys that are returning from injury, which we’ve also planned, and we need to get them on the field.”

As well as Venter’s return, summer signing Dylan Richardson, the Scotland hooker-cum-back-row, could be set for his Edinburgh debut after negotiating two full weeks of training following a back injury, while another new arrival, lock Callum Hunter-Hill, plus flanker Ben Muncaster, are also close to a return from back issues.

Fly-half Cammy Scott is available again to back up Ben Healy, with Ross Thompson still likely to miss the next two games as he recovers from a toe injury. Flanker Luke Crosbie also remains sidelined with a hamstring issue.