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Cape Town - The Franco Mostert situation has been messy, to say the least, and as a result the towering lock will not be considered for this weekend's Test between the Springboks and England at Twickenham.
There has been a lot of confusion surrounding Mostert's future, with English club Gloucester having announced his signing earlier in the year before the Lions hit back by claiming that the player still belonged to them.
With Saturday's Test falling outside of the World Rugby international window, all of the European-based Boks have been ruled out.
Coach Rassie Erasmus, though, has not been sure whether Mostert is considered a South African-based player or an English-based player.
However, on Monday Erasmus officially ruled Mostert out of contention for the England Test and it now looks almost certain that the 27-year-old will join Gloucester.
"It is such a touchy thing at this stage," Erasmus said on Monday.
"For a person to settle in at Gloucester, we just decided not to use him this weekend, personally for him to settle at his new club.
"I think if we went into detail we could have selected him, but it’s not worth going into that.
"He is a great player and started most of the Test matches this year at No 5 for us so he will be missed.
"But we are fortunate that Pieter-Steph (Du Toit) has played there a lot, Lood de Jager is fit again, RG Snyman is here. So we have some options."
Kick-off on Saturday is at 17:00 (SA time).
