It is an indication of the passion of Springboks fans that there have been a series of alarmist posts on social media about a catastrophic injury crisis, but the reality is not that bad.
The lists doing the rounds — and the media has played a big role — suggest Rassie Erasmus will struggle to put a first-rate team on the field in the first Test of the year, the Nations Championship opener against England on July 4 in Johannesburg.
To be fair to the worriers, this is the one fixture where the Boks might be a touch compromised, but it starts getting better after that, and by the time the All Blacks arrive in August, Erasmus should have most of his big guns.
The alarm bells have been ringing over the last fortnight because of the injuries to Malcolm Marx, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Morne van den Berg, and Kwagga Smith, with the latter two unlikely to play again this year, but the good news is that several heavyweight Boks are about to resume playing.
One of those is the injury-cursed Lood de Jager, who this weekend will play for his club in Japan, while Marx has not yet been ruled out of playing for the Kubota Spears in the weekend’s Japan Rugby League One final.
World Rugby Player of the Year Marx came off the field during last week’s semi-final against the Wild Knights with an arm injury, sparking alarm bells in South Africa, but almost ignored was his coach’s comment that Marx might play in the final.
The earlier-than-expected return to play for De Jager will be much welcomed by Erasmus. The lanky lock has not played since November last year, but if he can get some rugby in between now and the England game, that will take some pressure off the second row situation.
We know for sure that RG Snyman is gone for the year, but Eben Etzebeth should be fit at some stage of the Nations Championship and hopefully can play in the first Test against the All Blacks on August 22 at Ellis Park.
Etzebeth banged his hip in his comeback match for the Sharks in April following his three-month suspension for an eye-gouging incident in last November’s Bok match against Wales.
Salmaan Moerat, recovering from a toe injury, should be available before the end of June to further Erasmus’s second-row options.
Boks expected back at some point in July are fullback Aphelele Fassi, utility back Ethan Hooker, and scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, while there is even better news regarding Pieter-Steph du Toit. The flank’s rehab on a shoulder injury is reaching an end, and he could have a role against the Barbarians on June 22.
Speaking of scrumhalves, the Sharks’ pair of Grant Williams and Jaden Hendrikse should be clear to play against the Barbarians after sitting out the last matches of the Sharks’ URC campaign with niggles.
The bottom line is that the injury issue is not the crisis it has been made out to be. The only players ruled out for the year are: Snyman, Smith, Van den Berg, and Ruan Venter.
