Os on ice as Boks step it up
Carstens out; Du Plessis and Le Roux on standby
Veteran Springbok prop Os du Randt remains on ice, as the medical staff carefully manage his groin injury, but the mood in the Bok camp took a dramatic upward swing on Tuesday after an impressive early-morning training session.
Du Randt, who cried off at Monday's training session after aggravating an old injury, took part in the line-out session in the morning, but sat out the scrumming practice.
Bok coach Jake White remains adamant that his most senior player (in terms of age) and one of the most experienced members (Test caps) of his squad will be fit to take the field when South Africa face Scotland in the first of two Tests in Durban on Saturday.
The medical staff are "resting" Du Randt as a "precautionary" measure and will continue to manage the injury ahead of the first official international of the season.
Despite the absence of Du Randt, the team spent a substantial amount of their time on Tuesday working on their scrumming – under the watchful eyes of scrum guru Balie Swart and forwards coach Gert Smal.
Du Randt is set to return at loosehead, with Lawrence Sephaka, who filled in at loosehead prop for the veteran front row forward during Tuesday's scrumming session, set to play should Du Randt fail to recover in time.
Deon Carstens, who played at loosehead against the World XV last week, has been ruled out of the Scotland test on Saturday – having suffered a groin injury at training on Tuesday.
Cheetahs prop Jannie du Plessis, who trained with the Boks during their pre-season camp in Bloemfontein, has been called-up to join the Springbok squad at their Umhlanga base. It is believed another Cheetahs and Bok veteran, Ollie le Roux, has also been placed on standby.
Despite the latest setback Smal gave his approval of the team's early build-up to the Scotland Test, saying that how pleased he was with the contribution of the senior players – those who missed last week's encounter with the World XV and all of whom returned to the squad on Monday.
"There is an urgency in the team," Smal said after the morning session. "You can see it is a Test week."
His last remark is a clear indication that the team's somewhat lethargic performance in scraping to a fortuitous 30-27 win over the World XV last week can to some extend be contributed to a lack of motivation.
It wasn't an official Test and the players, at times, looked disinterested.
But clearly they have stepped up this week as the first of two Tests against Scotland looms.
Tuesday morning's practice also confirmed earlier reports that White is going to make several changes to the team that beat the World XV, with his more senior players all set to return.
Du Randt, if he is indeed cleared to play, will be one of five changes to the pack that struggled against the World XV.
John Smit, as captain, will obviously be back at hooker for Hanyani Shimange, Victor Matfield replaces the injured Albert van den Berg, while loose forwards Schalk Burger and Juan Smith will replace AJ Venter and Wikus van Heerden.
Changes to the backline will see Fourie du Preez take over from Ricky Januarie at scrum-half, Breyton Paulse will be back in the No.14 jersey, with André Snyman switching from the right-wing to the left and Gaffie du Toit dropping out.
