Victor Matfield is considering coming out of international retirement to lead the Springboks in the three-Test series against England this summer after an appeal from the new South Africa coach, Heyneke Meyer.
The 34-year old Matfield won the last of his 110 caps against Australia in the World Cup quarter-final last October and announced afterwards that he was retiring. He has not played since, this year working as a consultant for the Bulls and as a television analyst.
Meyer needs to find a new captain, with John Smit joining Saracens after the World Cup. The lead contender, Schalk Burger, is injured and may not be fit by the start of the England series and his fellow back rower Juan Smith, who has considerable leadership experience with the Cheetahs, has not played for a year.
Meyer also has a problem in the second row, with Bakkies Botha and Danie Rossouw moving overseas after the World Cup and Andries Bekker struggling with a back injury. The coach was in charge of the Bulls when they won their first Super 15 title in 2007 and Matfield was his captain.
"If it were not Heyneke asking me, I would not even consider it," said Matfield. The former South Africa coach Jake White believes the return of the veteran second row would be expedient: "A bit of stability is probably the right course for Heyneke now and it worked wonders when I brought back Os du Randt and Percy Montgomery in 2004."
Meyer said he would not name his captain until five days before the first Test against England, which is on 9 June. The England head coach, Stuart Lancaster, will name his squad, which may contain 40 players, on 10 May.
The former England outside-half Shane Geraghty has signed a two-year contract with London Irish, the club he left in 2009. The 25-year old spent two seasons with Northampton before joining Brive last summer and will link up with the Ireland scrum-half Tomas O'Leary in Reading.
"Shane is an exceptional player with a great deal of skill and we are a team that wants to attack," said Brian Smith, the London Irish director of rugby. "He's a game-breaking ball player and he's matured as a game controller. His contribution during his first spell with London Irish was massive and we're looking forward to welcoming him back into the fold."
The England captain, Chris Robshaw, is one of six players on the shortlist for the Premiership player of the year award. He is joined by his international colleagues Brad Barritt and Mike Brown, while the Gloucester prop Nick Wood, the Leicester flanker Julian Salvi and the Exeter back-row forward James Scaysbrook are the others in contention.
"The panel has come up with an incredibly impressive shortlist, which reflects the strength of Aviva Premiership Rugby," said the Premiership Rugby chief executive, Mark McCafferty. "It's great to see players who have emerged from our academies in what is undoubtedly a world-class list of players. It will be a tough job picking the winner, as clearly all six would be a worthy Aviva Premiership Rugby player of the season."
Exeter's Rob Baxter is on the shortlist for the coach of the year award along with the Harlequins director of rugby, Conor O'Shea, and the Leicester director of rugby, Richard Cockerill.