{"id":602371,"date":"2026-05-25T03:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T03:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/602371\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T03:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T03:29:11","slug":"springboks-bulls-star-on-areas-of-improvement-which-led-to-his-alignment-camp-call-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/602371\/","title":{"rendered":"Springboks: Bulls star on areas of improvement which led to his alignment camp call-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Barbarians<\/a><\/p>\n

After making his Springboks bow as a 21-year-old in 2018, Bulls scrum-half Embrose Papier is close to making his return to the international arena again.<\/p>\n

He made his Test debut off the replacements bench in Washington DC that year against Wales in Rassie Erasmus\u2019 first match as the Springboks\u2019 head coach.<\/p>\n

Papier<\/a> went on to make six further appearances for his country in 2018 but was subsequently dropped from Erasmus\u2019 squad and spent the next eight years on the sidelines while the Springboks<\/a> became the dominant force at international level and went on to win back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles in 2019 and 2023.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old has been battling to earn a recall to the world champions\u2019 squad with the likes of Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach, Grant Williams, Jaden Hendrikse, Herschel Jantjies and Morne van den Berg all ahead of him in the Boks\u2019 pecking order since then.<\/p>\n

In fine form for the Bulls<\/p>\n

However, Papier has delivered several outstanding performances for the Bulls<\/a> during their 2025\/26 United Rugby Championship<\/a> and Investec Champions Cup campaigns.<\/p>\n

He is amongst the leading players in several of the URC\u2019s attacking statistics and has already crossed the whitewash on nine occasions, just three adrift of Stormers number eight Evan Roos who has scored the most tries in the competition.<\/p>\n

Despite his impressive form, Papier was not called up to the Boks\u2019 first alignment camp in March although he was included in the 40-man group for the second one in Cape Town last week.<\/p>\n

Although he spent eight years in the international wilderness, Papier revealed that he always believed he would get a chance in the Springboks set-up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just kept working. I knew I could still do it. It was just little things I had to work on. And at that age (when he last played for the Boks) I was still so young,\u201d he told Afrikaans publication Rapport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI became a lot calmer over the years and started making better decisions on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since his last Springboks appearance eight years ago, Papier believes his overall game has come on in leaps and bounds.<\/p>\n

Fresh twist in Springbok forward\u2019s doping suspension as doctor\u2019s surprising decision during hearing revealed<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, I used to just pass a lot and see what happens. But (now) I analyse teams. I try to \u2018steal lines\u2019 (after he passes),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more experience you gain, the better decisions you make. You can scan teams and see what they are weak at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018There is always something you can work on\u2019<\/p>\n

After his recent involvement at the Boks\u2019 alignment camp, Papier did not expand on the homework which Erasmus gave him but said that \u201cfor every No. 9 there is always something you can work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Papier is well aware of what his strengths and weaknesses are and identified his speed as his greatest attribute.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ll have to keep working on, because I\u2019ll lose it one day when I get older. But right now, I\u2019m trying to make it my main thing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Apart from that, the Bulls star\u2019s kicking, support play, passing and decision-making are also amongst his strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour first thing as a No. 9 is to be fit, and then your basics \u2013 your passing and your kicking. But for me it\u2019s also just making the right choices when you\u2019re under pressure \u2013 when to make the game fast,\u201d he explained<\/p>\n

\u201cYou also get that feeling inside you. You can see when the forwards are going forward, or when they are being tackled back \u2013 then you know when to make the ball slow or fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people sometimes think we just kick the ball away, but we analyse teams. If we see that the wings are perhaps weak under high balls, then we know where we can win the ball back and win the territory battles.<\/p>\n

\u201cKicking is definitely something I\u2019ve worked hard on. Sometimes I kick long, sometimes short \u2013 it\u2019s an aspect of my game that I want to consistently perform well
in.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: United Rugby Championship quarter-finals: The fixtures, dates, kick-off times and how to watch<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After making his Springboks bow as a 21-year-old in 2018, Bulls scrum-half Embrose Papier is close to making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[88635,205509,348,3482,50,5903,4247,101,56,54,16296,55],"class_list":["post-602371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-bulls","tag-embrose-papier","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-south-africa","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-rugby-championship","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}