Another setback for Cheslin Kolbe
NEWS: Toulon were dealt a hammer blow on Thursday with news that South African wing Cheslin Kolbe will be sidelined for “several weeks” with a broken thumb.
The 28-year-old World Cup winner sustained the injury in a European Challenge Cup match against Benetton last weekend.
Kolbe underwent a “successful” operation Wednesday, but will be “kept out of action for several weeks”, the club said in a statement.
Kolbe will miss out on the showdown with his former club Toulouse on Saturday, a match that has been moved to a 60 000 sell-out Stade Velodrome in Marseille.
He will also be a bystander as Toulon battle to make the top six play-off places in the Top 14. They currently sit ninth on 51 points, five points from Racing 92 in sixth.
The last remaining Top 14 matches of the regulation season after Toulouse are against Bordeaux-Begles, Pau and Racing, while Toulon also take on London Irish in the quarterfinal of the Challenge Cup on May 8.
It’s another setback for Kolbe as he had to wait until late December last year to make his debut for Toulon after he suffered a leg injury in training with the Springboks in September.
That injury ruled Kolbe out of the Boks’ final four Rugby Championship matches and he also missed the end-of-year internationals.
