'The plan was to play him' - Rassie reveals Norton's cruel England blow
REACTION: Young lock Riley Norton had done enough to force his way into the Springbok team for Saturday’s Nations Championship opener against England at Ellis Park, only for a devastating training-ground injury to end those plans and sideline him for a number of weeks.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus revealed on Monday that the 20-year-old Junior Springbok captain was set to make his Test debut against England before suffering a Grade Three hamstring tear in the closing moments of a training session.
Norton, who impressed during his 80-minute performance against the Barbarians and had been fast-tracked into the senior squad, was also due to return to the Junior Springboks after the England Test to help defend South Africa’s World Rugby U20 Championship title, according to the Springbok coach.
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Instead, he now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
“Riley’s injury is a real setback, man. He really fit in well,” Erasmus said.
“The plan was to play him in this game and then send him back to the Junior Boks for their playoffs.”
The injury occurred in the second-last movement of training and was simply a case of the youngster pulling up while chasing back.
“Unfortunately, it was in the second-to-last move of the training session,” Erasmus explained.
“He just pulled his hamstring while chasing. It wasn’t a weird incident. He just pulled it.”
“It’s a bad hamstring. I think eight to ten weeks.”
The setback is another blow to South Africa’s already depleted second-row stocks.
Franco Mostert remains sidelined with an ankle injury, while Lood de Jager was unavailable for selection this week due to illness, leaving Erasmus without a specialist lock on the bench for the England Test.
The Bok coach admitted the growing injury list in the second row has become a concern.
“Franco Mostert is hopefully back in the next two or three weeks, Lood maybe next week, but Riley unfortunately pulled his Grade 3 hamstring, so the locks are certainly getting injured in our environment.”
Erasmus also suggested the jump in intensity from junior to senior international rugby may have contributed to Norton’s injury.
“I think the junior guys coming in, maybe the intensity at the beginning of training is tough because they really pushed the older guys hard over the last three weeks.
“I wouldn’t say it was our fault, but maybe for the younger guys it’s about keeping up with that intensity all the time,” Erasmus explained.
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