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Springbok team dietician Zeenat Simjee was locked in a late meeting with senior SA Rugby officials as speculation grows on whether she will remain part of the team set up in light of recent revelations about an alleged affair with Elton Jantjies.
News24 Sport understands that Simjee met with SA Rugby president Mark Alexander and chief executive officer Jurie Roux at the Springbok team hotel in Toulon on Wednesday evening.
Simjee has been embroiled in a scandal involving Jantjies, stemming from the New Zealand/South Africa Test that took place in Mbombela on 6 August.
Jantjies and Simjee had initially denied the affair, but in an interview with News24 earlier this week, Jantjies' wife - Iva - said that he had admitted the affair took place.
When details of the affair emerged while the Boks were on the Australian leg of their Rugby Championship tour, Jantjies and Simjee both left the team.
Simjee, though, has since returned to the team and has been on tour with the Boks in Ireland and France while Jantjies was not picked to be part of the Springbok squad for the ongoing end-of-year tour.
One source told News24 that she was set to return home on Friday, but News24 could not confirm this.
Various attempts to reach SA Rugby's management for comment on Tuesday and Wednesday initially drew a blank, and Alexander told News24 that he wouldn't discuss employee matters in the public sphere
"SA Rugby doesn't discuss staff matters in the media. Staff confidentiality is a normal human resource practice in any organisation in the world," Alexander said.
The Springboks face France on Saturday in the first Test between the sides in four years, with kickoff being at 22:00 (SA) time at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille.
Springbok team:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marvin Orie, 20 Kwagga Smith 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Makazole Mapimpi
