Serious neck injury for Schickerling
JD Schickerling, a lock in the Western Province Under-21 team, suffered a serious neck injury playing against the Blue Bulls Under-21 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
In the fourth minute of the first half, Schickerling went up to take a shallow kick-off. When he came to ground, Blue Bulls lock Irne Herbst made for Schickerling, shoulder first. Herbst lowered his right shoulder so that it made contact with Schickerling's head. The other lock, Marvin Orie, grabbed Schickerling from behind and pulled him over by his neck to ground.
Schickerling, an outstanding player, was taken off the field and when the Western Province team came off the field at half-time, they were told that their team-mate had broken his neck and was in hospital. This caused shock.
It was established that Schickerling had two damaged vertebrae in his neck but was not paralysed. In the bed next to him at the Little Company of Mary Hospital, was a 16-year-old player who had been injured in a match that morning and would be paralysed.
The president of the Western Province Rugby Union, Thelo Wakefield, went from Loftus Versfeld during the main match to see Schickerling in hospital. The Western Province Rugby Union flew Schickerling's mother up to see her son. The team's coach, John Dobson, who stayed behind in Pretoria, fetched her from the airport on Sunday when Schickerling was operated on.
After the match the team prayed for Schickerling in the changing room and five of the players stayed on to be with him on Sunday. Dobson and the players return to Cape Town on Monday.
In a case like this the union pays all expenses.
After his operation, which was regarded as longer than expected but a success, the prognosis was that he would not be paralysed but would be required to stay in the hospital of up to four weeks before being abler to move back to Cape Town.
JD (John Dave) Schickerling is a player of whom great things were expected. He turned 19 in May this year. While at Paarl Gim he played for Western Province at the Craven Weeks of 2012 and 2013. In 2012 and 2013 he played for South African Schools. This year he played for Western Province Under-19, South Africa Under-20 at the IRB's Junior World Championship, Western Province Vodacom Cup team and Western Province Under-21. He is 2,02 metres tall and brilliant in the line-out and in general play. Great things are expected of him.
His playing career is not necessarily over but is obviously indefinitely on hold.
Western Province have asked that both Herbst and Orie be cited.
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