Eight years later, Embrose Papier believes his Springbok time has come again

After making his Springbok bow as a 21-year-old in 2018, Papier is close to making his return to the international arena again.

He made his Test debut off the replacements bench in Washington DC that year against Wales in Rassie Erasmus' first match as the Springboks' head coach.

Papier went on to make six further appearances for his country in 2018 but was subsequently dropped from Erasmus' squad and spent the next eight years on the sidelines while the Springboks became the dominant force at international level and went on to win back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles in 2019 and 2023.

The 29-year-old has been battling to earn a recall to the world champions' squad with the likes of Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach, Grant Williams, Jaden Hendrikse, Herschel Jantjies and Morne van den Berg all ahead of him in the Boks' pecking order since then.

However, Papier has delivered several outstanding performances for the Bulls during their 2025/26 United Rugby Championship and Investec Champions Cup campaigns.

He is amongst the leading players in several of the URC's attacking statistics and has already crossed the whitewash on nine occasions, just three adrift of Stormers number eight Evan Roos, who has scored the most tries in the competition.

Despite his impressive form, Papier was not called up to the Boks' first alignment camp in March although he was included in the 40-man group for the second one in Cape Town last week.

Although he spent eight years in the international wilderness, Papier revealed that he always believed he would get a chance in the Springbok set-up again.

"I just kept working. I knew I could still do it. It was just little things I had to work on. And at that age (when he last played for the Boks) I was still so young," he told Afrikaans publication Rapport.

"I became a lot calmer over the years and started making better decisions on the field."

Since his last Springbok appearance eight years ago, Papier believes his overall game has come on in leaps and bounds.

"In the past, I used to just pass a lot and see what happens. But (now) I analyse teams. I try to ‘steal lines' (after he passes)," he said.

"The more experience you gain, the better decisions you make. You can scan teams and see what they are weak at."

After his recent involvement at the Boks' alignment camp, Papier did not expand on the homework which Erasmus gave him but said that "for every No. 9 there is always something you can work on."

Papier is well aware of what his strengths and weaknesses are and identified his speed as his greatest attribute.

"It's something I'll have to keep working on, because I'll lose it one day when I get older. But right now, I'm trying to make it my main thing," he added.

Apart from that, the Bulls star's kicking, support play, passing and decision-making are also amongst his strengths.

"Your first thing as a No. 9 is to be fit, and then your basics - your passing and your kicking. But for me it's also just making the right choices when you're under pressure - when to make the game fast," he explained.

"You also get that feeling inside you. You can see when the forwards are going forward, or when they are being tackled back - then you know when to make the ball slow or fast.

"A lot of people sometimes think we just kick the ball away, but we analyse teams. If we see that the wings are perhaps weak under high balls, then we know where we can win the ball back and win the territory battles.

"Kicking is definitely something I've worked hard on. Sometimes I kick long, sometimes short – it's an aspect of my game that I want to consistently perform well in."