Kriel: England talks are 'premature'

Cape Town - Springbok and Lions flank Jaco Kriel says it’s a bit “premature” to suggest that he’ll join English club Wasps.

This comes after Afrikaans weekly newspaper, Rapport, reported last Sunday that the English Premiership club were are eager to secure Kriel's services.

Kriel, 27, was named Lions captain for Saturday’s Super Rugby encounter against the Sunwolves and he responded when probed on the Wasps matter:

"I believe that's a bit premature from whoever wrote that. I saw it in the papers. My dad phoned me and wanted to know what's going on,” Kriel told Rugby365.

"I'm still signed with the Lions for Super Rugby next year, I am coming out of contract then and I've got nothing after Super Rugby 2018. So maybe they spoke about that, but that's what I know about the story,” he continued.

Kriel played his eighth Test for the Springboks against France at Ellis Park last weekend.

Should Kriel opt to join Wasps, he would not be eligible for the Springboks outside of a World Cup year as SA Rugby’s new policy states that only overseas-based players with 30 or more Test caps can be picked for the national team.

Other South Africans already on Wasps’ books are hooker/flanker Ashley Johnson, utility back Willie le Roux and centre Juan de Jongh.

Saturday’s Lions v Sunwolves clash at Ellis Park is scheduled for 17:15.

Teams:

Lions

15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen              

Substitutes: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Corné Fourie, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Jacques Nel, 23 Sylvian Mahuza

Sunwolves

15 Yasutaka Sasakura, 14 Takaaki Nakazuru, 13 Ryohei Yamanaka, 12 Derek Carpenter, 11 Teruya Goto, 10 Jumpei Ogura, 9 Keisuke Uchida, 8 Willie Britz (captain), 7 Shokei Kin, 6 Yoshitaka Tokunaga, 5 Kotaro Yatabe, 4 Sam Wykes, 3 Yasuo Yamaji, 2 Atsushi Sakate, 1 Masataka Mikami

Substitutes: 16 Takeshi Hino, 17 Koki Yamamoto, 18 Takuma Asahara, 19 Uwe Helu, 20 Malgene Ilaua, 21 Kaito Shigeno, 22 Rikiya Matsuda, 23 Kotaro Matsushima