Springboks captain Siya Kolisi will miss the upcoming test against Italy after sustaining an Achilles injury. Doctors are yet to confirm the severity of the injury, but early signs suggest he could miss July in order to be healthy for the Rugby Championship.
“He had a stiff neck, which has cleared up, but now he’s got a bit of Achilles stiffness. It’s not serious – the scans are clear – but we’re just being careful. No player will play more than eight or nine matches this year, so we’d rather be safe,” said Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.
Springbok lineup vs Italy:
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Bench: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux.
Rassie Erasmus is inundated with world-class talent, leaving several key players, deserving of the international stage, out of the squad, including Stormers star Evan Roos.
“At this stage he’s [Roos] just competing with the best. We all have different opinions on who plays well and who doesn’t. In our opinion, he wasn’t playing as well as the other guys and that’s normally the reason we don’t select guys,” Erasmus admitted.
“At this stage, Juarno [Augustus; failed to pass an exit medical at Northhampton Saints ahead of his move to Ulster] and Cameron [Hanekom] are out. Evan was not playing as well as the other guys. That’s not to say he isn’t Springbok level, it’s just that Kwagga Smith, Cameron, Juarno, and Siya [Kolisi] can all play eight.”
“A guy can be good enough, but there are just two or three guys who we think fit better into what we are trying to do as a Springbok team. Maybe he just doesn’t fit that plan or the other guys are a bit more settled,” the Springbok coach concluded.
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