Wales wary of fired-up De Klerk after Springboks snub

Nation.Cymru staff/agencies

Wales scrum-half Kieran Hardy believes two-time World Cup winner Faf de Klerk will have “something to prove” when the Barbarians face Wales on Saturday after being left out of South Africa’s squad for the inaugural Nations Championship.

The veteran scrum-half, who has won back-to-back World Cups with the Springboks, returns to the international stage at Allianz Stadium just days after missing out on Rassie Erasmus’ plans for the summer.

Hardy, who has the chance to stake his own claim for Wales’ number nine shirt with British and Irish Lion Tomos Williams unavailable, expects De Klerk to pose a major challenge.

“I’ve played against him several times and he’s exactly what he looks like on TV,” the Ospreys scrum-half said.

“He’s just energy everywhere he goes. It feels like he’s everywhere.

“I don’t know if the hair helps him a little bit with that! Maybe it gives him a bit of extra. But he’s obviously very experienced and the way he runs the game for South Africa, and has done over the last few years, he’s been a massive part of that.

“There’s some world-class players in their group, a lot of internationals. A lot of boys like Faf, who’ve missed out on essentially playing for the Springboks. So you feel like he’s got something to prove.”

Saturday’s fixture also marks the final match of George North’s illustrious career before the former Wales centre retires. North scored 47 tries in 121 Tests for his country.

For Hardy, however, the match is also an opportunity to cement his place in Steve Tandy’s plans ahead of the Nations Championship.

Wales begin the new tournament against Fiji at Cardiff City Stadium on July 4 before away fixtures against Argentina and South Africa.

‘Building’

The campaign follows Wales’ first Six Nations victory in three years after they beat Italy in Cardiff.

“Obviously, we’ve spoken a little bit about building and what we did in the Six Nations,” Hardy said.

“As the competition went along, I think our performance got better.

“We got a good victory against Italy in the end, but I think we want to build on that and keep improving over the summer.

“A couple of games before could have gone either way with some decisions, but the win was huge for the group, especially building into the World Cup.”