Last man standing

Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts is certainly a straight-talking man.

Asked about his feelings over the growing injury list in South Africa's national team, he encapsulated the fears of the entire Bok management team in one sentence.

"It has been very hard for me looking at the Currie Cup and seeing which guys are still standing at the end of the season," Roberts said.

"It has been a long season and the end-of-year tour is always a challenge from that perspective, but it is up to us to manage the guys and get the best out of them for this part of the season."

The Boks will travel with a severely depleted team for his year-end tour – players like Bismarck du Plessis, Coenie Oosthuizen, Andries Bekker, Schalk Burger, Juan Smith, Pierre Spies, Johan Goosen, Frans Steyn and Bryan Habana all out injured.

Then there are further injury clouds over Bath-based flank Francois Louw, Cheetahs hooker Adriaan Strauss and Bok captain Jean de Villiers.

It literally is 'last man standing'.