VIDEO: Bok sidelined after scary ankle injury
INJURY UPDATE: Montpellier’s South African playmaker Johan Goosen will be out of action for “at least two months”.
Goosen sustained a badly twisted ankle injury early in this past Sunday’s match against Toulon, which Montpellier won 29-17 to consolidate their fourth place in the Top 14.
The Springbok’s absence adds to coach Vern Cotter’s woes ahead of their European Champions Cup match with Edinburgh on Saturday, with All Black flyhalf Aaron Cruden (calf) out and Frans Steyn nursing a biceps injury.
Wing Timoci Nagusa suffered a thigh injury in the Toulon match, with fellow Fijian Nemani Nadolo and scrumhalf Benoit Paillaugue also both out. Georgian prop Levan Chilachava, locks Jacques Du Plessis and Konstantine Mikautadze, and back row forwards Julien Bardy and Yacouba Camara, are all also sidelined.
Toulon, sitting a lowly 12th in the Top 14, have drafted in Kiwi lock Brian Alainu’uese from Glasgow on a one-year deal with one more as an option.
He is the first of five recruits to be unveiled by Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal to boost a pack lacking the injured Corentin Vernet, Juandre Kruger, Florian Fresia, Facundo Isa and Charles Ollivon.
https://youtu.be/VR2ugCRsR5E
* Meanwhile New Zealand’s Toby Arnold will remain at Lyon until 2022 after signing a three-year contract extension with the Top 14 side.
The 31-year-old wing’s current deal was set to expire in 2019 but Arnold has been rewarded for consistently high performances since joining the club in 2013.
Arnold started 25 of Lyon’s 28 fixtures last season and, despite in-house competition from the likes of Noa Nakaitaci, Alexis Palisson and Xavier Mignot, has started all of Lyon’s six Top 14 matches so far this season.
Promoted to France’s top flight in 2016, Lyon has gone from strength to strength, qualifying for the Top 14 final phase for the first time in 2017 when they reached the semi-finals after eliminating Toulon and Mayol in the playoffs.
Lyon launched a massive summer recruitment campaign to boost their chances of progress in what will be their first participation in the European Cup this season.
Lyon gets their European campaign underway on Sunday when they host Cardiff Blues at the Stade Gerland.
Agence France-Presse
