Bok is excited to be back after off-kilter year

SPOTLIGHT: Saracens boss Mark McCall said Vincent Koch is relieved to be back in the mix with the London club, following his four months with the Springboks.

The 31-year-old South African prop brought the curtain down on his long spell outside England by helping his country to an October 2 win over the All Blacks in Australia.

He has since returned to his Premiership club and ahead of a busy season with Saracens and also with the United Kingdom-touring Springboks in November, McCall has promised they will ensure they will do exactly what is best for the front row forward.

"He has had a funny more than 12 Months," said McCall, when asked what state Koch is in following his Springboks exertions.

"He has not been busy at times and then very busy.

"He didn't play a game between the end of October and the start of March.

"There was this huge period of time where he didn't play any rugby at all.

"He has been busy since then, but he is just glad to be out of a bubble environment, glad to be back in his house with his wife and his kid, back in with the boys and that kind of thing.

"We will look after him over the course of the next three, four months, make sure he gets plenty of time off as well as playing rugby."

By Liam Heagney, RugbyPass