The injury that shattered a Bok dream and Siya's magnanimous gesture
REACTION: The midweek training mishap that ruled Jean-Luc du Preez out of the Eden Park Test against the All Blacks may be more serious than initially thought.
Du Preez, who was scheduled to make a comeback after a two-year absence from the Springbok setup, injured his knee in training.
That forced Bok coach Rassie Erasmus to name Siya Kolisi at No.8, although Jesse Kriel retained the captaincy for the Auckland crunch.
Erasmus confirmed the injury could keep Du Preez, capped 14 times, on the sidelines for a while.
The principle that a player must train on a Monday put Kolisi back in the selection frame and the training mishap that ruled Du Preez out opened the door for Kolisi’s recall.
“I think he will be sidelined for a substantial period,” Erasmus said of the 30-year-old Du Preez’s latest setback.
“Siya was touch and go for the match, but trained fully on Monday and when JL [Du Preez] injured his knee on Tuesday.”
Erasmus also explained why Kriel will lead the team at Eden Park.
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“We named the captain [Kriel] on Monday and JL [Du Preez] would have played.
“We only made the change with Siya [Kolisi] on Wednesday.
“Because we trained with Jesse as captain and that impacts how we communicate on the field, Jesse took the lead – with Eben [Etzebeth] and Ox [Nche] up front.
“Because Siya came in at a late stage, after JL was injured, it makes more sense to retain Jesse as captain.
“The suggestion came from Siya, and the team accepts it.”
Erasmus stuck largely to his tried and tested combinations for their third Rugby Championship encounter against the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.
He made only four changes to the starting team that beat the Wallabies in Cape Town.
The changes see the return of South Africa’s most experienced player, Eben Etzebeth, to the starting XV in the engine room alongside Ruan Nortje, in what will mark Etzebeth’s 136th Test.
The other two changes in the loose trio, where Kolisi returns from a niggle in what will mark his second Test at No.8, while Pieter-Steph du Toit returns at flank.
The only change in the backline is at fullback, where Willie le Roux will start his 101st Test after being forced to withdraw from the last clash against the Wallabies due to a niggle.
Erasmus made three personnel changes to the replacements bench, which features five forwards and three backs, with Jan-Hendrik Wessels taking over from Marnus van der Merwe at hooker, Kwagga Smith moving back to the bench in the void left by Etzebeth’s promotion, and utility back Ethan Hooker featuring in his second Test in place of Andre Esterhuizen.
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Canan Moodie, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Siya Kolisi, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Stated, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Thomas du Toit, Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacement: 16 Jan Hendrik Wessels, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 23 Ethan Hooker.
Date: Saturday, September 6
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-off: 19.05 (09.05 SA time; 07.05 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia), Jordan Way (Australia)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
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