Frans Malherbe says that he is showing “improvement” as he looks to recover from his injury woes and get back to playing rugby again.

The double Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks tighthead prop hasn’t played a single game since the Stormers’ United Rugby Championship clash against the Scarlets in March 2025.

The 35-year-old has been recovering from chronic neck and back issues which have kept him on the sidelines for the Stormers and Springboks.

His injury concerns put him on the brink of retirement from professional rugby before Rassie Erasmus intervened and convinced him not to make that decision just yet, but to try his best to recover instead.

Latest Frans Malherbe update

Malherbe has since been doing just that and has been training with the Stormers with the goal of returning to the pitch, despite the Capetonian club not including him in their URC squad for the 2026/27 season.

When asked about the Springbok tighthead prop’s situation, director of rugby John Dobson said that a decision on his future could be made in the new year.

“I don’t think he has made a decision,” he told reporters last month.

“My guess, and this may be just a John Dobson guess, is that it’s going to drag into the new year. He’s training a lot here, but he’s certainly not going to play for us in the foreseeable future, so we needed to get somebody in to replace him, and there’s still a big question mark on him.”

Appearing on the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict show, Malherbe provided an update on his future, confirming that a decision hadn’t been made yet.

“I’m actually good,” he said when Springboks legend Schalk Burger asked how he was tracking.

“I think the bigger picture is that there has been good improvement. I have started training with the team, team training without contact and stuff like that.

“So, it’s obviously very nice to do rugby training, rugby-related, rather than just running back and forth – which is not my favorite part.

“It’s actually been going well, with some good improvement, and I will hopefully soon get stuck into a scrum.”

Dream XV vote

Malherbe appeared on the show after he was voted in the Springboks Dream XV as the best tighthead prop in the modern era. Not only has he won back-to-back World Cups in the Green and Gold, but he was also a go-to selection under four head coaches – Heyneke Meyer, Allister Coetzee, Jacques Nienaber and Erasmus – racking up 76 Test appearances in doing so.

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“It’s obviously a massive honour and privilege,” he said on being voted as the best Bok tighthead.

“You do feel quite good about yourself; I don’t know who voted, but thanks. Hopefully they counted the votes quite thoroughly,” he joked. “But it’s a massive honour and very special to be in that team amongst all those legends.”