The Springboks got a reprieve of sorts when Ben Youngs’ availability for England’s three-match tour of South Africa in June was cast in doubt on Monday.

The 28-year-old Leicester halfback has been ruled out for four months with a torn knee ligament suffered during England’s Six Nations-opener in Rome on Sunday.

This puts him on course for a return to play at the start of June, which leaves little time to shake off the ring rust before Tests against the Boks in Johannesburg (June 9), Bloemfontein (June 16) and Cape Town (June 23).

Regarded by some as the best scrumhalf in the world, Youngs’ absence would serve as somewhat of a two-point swing for South Africa who are arguably weakest at the scrumhalf position.

Youngs would represent a serious threat to the Boks’ ability to control field position in the pressure game and this appears to be the reason that England coach Eddie Jones announced immediately after the 46-15 win against Italy that he would be calling up “a kicking scrumhalf” to replace Youngs.

Though Jones has used Danny Care as the perfect foil for Youngs, accelerating the tempo off England’s bench, 34-year-old Saracens scrumfeeder Richard Wigglesworth is likely to feature against Wales on Saturday in what would be his first Test cap since the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

According to The Telegraph, Wigglesworth is “probably the finest practitioner of the box-kick in the northern hemisphere… an expert game-manager and has played an instrumental role in European champions Saracens’ recent success.”