Boks dropping like flies

 

With captain Jean de Villiers a non-starter thanks to a knee injury which has put a question mark over his availability for the World Cup, he has been joined by Eben Etzebeth, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira, Lodewyk de Jager amd Julian Redelinghuys.

 

Etzebeth hurt his chest in a warm-up game against the Cheetahs at Newlands, and is only expected back in the third round – the third consecutive year he has missed the start of the competition.

 

Bismarck du Plessis did not lead the Sharks out as planned against the Cheetahs, with a shoulder complaint seeing him err on the side of caution when a niggle did not clear up in time.

 

Sharks coach Gary Gold said that he was simply not willing to take the risk and possibly lose his captain for longer.

 

"Bismarck was struggling on Thursday, then we wanted to give him until as late as possible and so he basically pulled out today [Saturday]. He has got something wrong with his shoulder, and he thought he could push through, and he probably could have if we had two or three games left to go in the season, or if it was a playoff game – he would have pushed through. 

 

"But it is one of those injuries where it is a small tear that can heal quit quickly but it can deteriorate, so it was a calculated risk – which one could say didn't come off. But we didn't want to loose him for six weeks when he can be back.

 

"Bismarck looks like he should be back by next week, that is why we took the risk we did to hopefully be back next week," he explained.

 

The news is not as good for Du Plessis' long-time front row partner Tendai Mtawarira who left the field early in the Sharks' defeat to the Cheetahs at Kings Park.

 

"Beast does not look good, he looks like he has torn his calf quite badly, but that is the way it goes, we back the squad system and back the other players so we will have to rotate a little earlier than we anticipated," he said.

 

De Jager was another player that didn't make it to the final whistle in Durban, leaving the field using his jersey as a sling.

 

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske said that he does not expect to have his only Bok lock for quite some time.

 

"Lodewyk has gone off for an MRI scan now, but it doesn't look good, it looks like he broke his elbow – we will know more later tonight [Saturday] or Sunday.

 

"According to the doctor, the worst case scenario is two months and best case scenario is four to six weeks, but lets hope for a miracle," he said.

 

Redelinghuys got two Springbok caps on the year-end tour, but he has not played since, with a hamstring tweak keeping him on the sidelines for the start of the season.