SANZAAR turns down Lambie

Gold confirmed that SANZAAR turned down an application from the Sharks for dispensation for Lambie. Gold also made it clear that the 25-year-old would not have played anyway because he is still suffering from concussion-related symptoms. 

"The situation is two-fold. The first thing is about Patrick Lambie's injury and his return to play and the protocol surrounding that," said Gold.

"Patrick has to be symptom free to start his exercises and then he gets exercise-induced symptoms or he is symptom free – then you can clear him and that has not happened yet.

"To be proactive, hoping he was going to be symptom free, I had to make an application for dispensation last week, which was turn downed because we got cover in the squad.

"Every single day it changes and every single day we do a reassessment and every single day we have to make another decision. However, the problem is we are now five or six weeks down the track, so Patrick has done no exercise and now we got a third complication in that he has done no training as well."

Gold said they are still waiting on dispensation for lock Ruan Botha

"He [Botha] played three games. You name your squad of 40 and in the case of players who are listed as injured, they have to qualify by playing four games. 

"Jean Deysel qualifies – he was injured at the beginning and he came back and played his four games and he is now eligible," he added.

Gold also confirmed that Daniel du Preez will be out for some time as he will be potentially having an operation on his groin. His brother Jean-Luc is available for the play-offs.

@rugby365com