IGNORE THE SNOR

SPRINGBOK scrumhalf Grant Williams has been told not to fall for the Wallabies’ hardebaard Nic White’s tricks in Saturday’s opening Test match of the Rugby Championship at Ellis Park (5.10pm kickoff).

South Africa are expecting Australia to bring the niggle with scrumhalf White and his dik snor predicted to be front and centre of trying to unsettle the Boks.

That niggle worked a treat for the Aussies in their 22-12 win against the British & Irish Lions in the third dead-rubber Test, with White roped in at No.9 after Jake Gordon got injured.

And with Gordon still out of action, White had to park his decision to retire and joined the Wallabies on their two-Test tour of Mzansi.

White has been known to try and get under the Boks’ skin in the past, famously faking a high tackle when Faf de Klerk’s hand brushed his upper lip in an attempted tackle.

De Klerk was sent off and the Wallabies went on to win that 2022 clash 25-17 in Adelaide.  

Asked about White’s niggling, Williams laughed it off before Bok coach Rassie Erasmus gave some sound advice to the scrummie and the rest of the Bokke on how to keep the big-moustached Aussie in check.

Erasmus wysed: “I don’t know if that [off-the-ball stuff] is going to happen, but referee Ben O’Keefe has been an official at the highest level for a long time now.

“[I know] that’s not the way Joe [Schmidt] coaches his teams... hopefully that is how our players see it and stay focused on the game in play.

“Ball out of play? We are not a bunch of chiropractors who are trying to realign somebody’s back by pulling and shoving.”

Meanwhile, Williams is loving life at No.9 after cracking the nod for a third straight start when he takes the Ellis Park pitch on Saturday.