VIDEO: Double boost for Boks
PLAYER UPDATE: South Africa will have two key members of their squad available for the crunch World Cup pool match against Ireland.
The world No.1, Ireland, faces off against No.2 South Africa at Stade de France, in Paris, on September 23.
It looks likely to be the Pool B decider.
The Boks were sweating over two key players after their opening round 18-3 win over Scotland in Marseille this past weekend.
Lock Eben Etzebeth, who left the field with a shoulder injury midway through the first half, remains sidelined.
However, assistant coach Felix Jones revealed on Tuesday that the 31-year-old lock remains on a seven- to 10-day recovery plan.
While he is ‘not available’ to play against Romania in Bordeaux this coming Saturday, 10 days will mean will recover just in time for the Paris face-off.
The results of the scan have not been made public, but he was also not scheduled to be named in the Bordeaux matchday roster.
The Bok medical staff will continue to ‘manage’ him and then “make the right call” about his availability.
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* It was also revealed that Jesse Kriel has not been cited by World Rugby and remains available to play.
The Springbok centre, Kriel, avoided being carded – despite seemingly making contact with the head of Scotland No.8 Jack Dempsey during a tackle.
It has been likened to the incident which led to Tom Curry being shown a red card in England’s victory over Argentina in an earlier match this past weekend.
It caused a massive outcry – both in the mainstream and social media, with questions about consistency.
South Africa’s Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus said earlier in the week that he is “pretty sure” there won’t be a citing.
“If it isn’t direct head contact – and it wasn’t, it was tackled on the ball and then he moved up after tackling on the ball,” Erasmus said.
“I’ve seen a few stills where people just (show) after direct contact to the ball.
“If you took it a millisecond or a second or two back, you’ll see that he tackled on the ball. So we’re very happy with how it was refereed.
“I think Finn Russell’s call was much closer.
“Unfortunately he got injured then, I think that deflected a little bit from the action that he did, but we were happy with the decision that was made.”
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