The number of Springbok players who are out for the November tour has increased considerably over the last couple of days.
THE BIG PICTURE
The Springboks travelled to the United Kingdom for their traditional end-of-year tour which consists of three Tests against Scotland in Edinburgh, England in London and Wales in Cardiff this November.
It is well documentated that Rassie Erasmus is targeting a clean sweep on this tour, which would likely propel the Springboks back to the top of the World Rugby rankings by the end of the year.
But for that to happen, the Springboks will have to make do without several key players, who has been ruled out of action due to various injuries which in and of itself is a big concern.
THE SPRINGBOK SQUAD FORCED TO TWEAK
Last Tuesday, Erasmus named a star-studded, all-capped 34-man squad for the Springboks’ tour, but injury setbacks soon forced him to chop and change his personnel.
First utility forward Jan-Hendrik Wessels had to withdraw due to an ankle injury he sustain while on duty with the Bulls. In an unconventional move, Erasmus decided to extend his squad from 34 to 35 by calling up both hooker Johan Grobbelaar and prop Wilco Louw as Wessels’ replacements.
In a further blow to Erasmus’ initial squad selection, Damian Willemse picked up a groin injury on Saturday, which ruled him out of the Springboks’ tour.
And now reports have surfaced that the latest Springbok to fall victim to injury, is prop Frans Malherbe. As per Rugby365, Frans Malherbe is injured and as such he was unable to take up his place in the squad that departed for a training camp in Jersey on Sunday.
This has not been confirmed by SA Rugby as yet, but it will be interesting to see who might be called up as Vincent Koch and Louw are now the only two specialist tighthead props in the group, although Thomas du Toit can play on both sides of the front row.
FULL-LIST: INJURED SPRINGBOKS
- Frans Malherbe
- Damian Willemse
- Jan-Hendrik Wessels
- Faf de Klerk
- Steven Kitshoff
- Deon Fourie
- Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
- Franco Mostert
- Lood de Jager
- Evan Roos
- Salmaan Moerat
WILL THE BOKS WIN ALL THREE TESTS IN THE UK?
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