Frans Steyn and Jacques Potgieter have been withdrawn from the Springbok squad currently preparing for the final Test in The Castle Rugby Championship against New Zealand in Soweto on Saturday.
Steyn requires surgery on his injured ankle and Potgieter is struggling with an abdominal strain picked up during an Absa Currie Cup match last weekend.
Vodacom Blue Bulls loose forward Arno Botha and MTN Golden Lions back Lionel Mapoe have been called up to join the squad in Johannesburg.
Steyn will undergo surgery on Wednesday to clean out old pieces of bone fragments in his ankle joint. This was discovered after the Springboks’ medical team had a number of scans and x-rays done on the Springbok midfielder last week.
“Losing Frans is a big blow as he is one of our most experienced players,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
“However, it’s better that he gets the ankle sorted out properly as he still has a long rugby career ahead of him and can play many more Tests for South Africa.
“Jacques could not train last week and we were hoping to get him ready for selection for this week, but he has not responded as well as we had hoped and subsequently it was decided to withdraw him from the squad as he would not be available this weekend.”
Four more players did not take part in training in Johannesburg on Monday, as they are all nursing various bumps and bruises from last Saturday’s victory over Australia in Pretoria. They are Zane Kirchner (hip pointer), Johan Goosen (bruised heel), Willem Alberts (hip) and Jannie du Plessis (knee).
“Seeing that Willem is also not 100% at the moment, we only have three fit loose forwards in the squad and needed someone to provide cover at blindside flank and No 8, which is why Arno is coming to join us. He was part of our Young Guns squad in June as has been in our plans before,” said Meyer.
“Lionel has been in great form lately and apart from providing cover in the midfield, he can also be used on the wing if necessary.”
Furthermore, Springbok prop Coenie Oosthuizen will consult a specialist in Durban on Tuesday to further examine his neck.
“I’ve not been completely happy with his neck, as he still showed symptoms after having played in the Absa Currie Cup last weekend,” said Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts.
“We’re seeking another opinion as we need to make the right decision for his career. Coenie is a young player and potentially he has a long career ahead of him, so long term we need to make the right decisions and can’t put him at risk in any way.”
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October 1st, 2012 at 7:36 pm
Will we ever get to see Fransie play one position for an entire season?
Alberts and JDP are going to be a huge loss if they don’t recover…
October 1st, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Why no extra prop? Or is Malherbe there?
October 1st, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Who is Arno Botha?
October 1st, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 7:53 pm:
Must be better than Daniel?
Brussow?
Name rings no bells, my fault.
October 1st, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 7:53 pm: Reply to Boertjie @ 8:15 pm:
Bulls loosie
October 2nd, 2012 at 3:20 am
I like Frank and will miss him – even more since he got rid of the Def Leppard hairstyle.
Get well soon !
October 2nd, 2012 at 7:53 am
Reply to Boertjie @ 8:15 pm:
Arno is big unit, maybe Heyneke is looking at a big player to potentially replace Alberts.
I would have gone for Deysel maybe.
October 2nd, 2012 at 7:57 am
Mapoe has been playing great rugby and I would honestly run him at outside with Taute moving to fullback.
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:10 am
So for end-of-year tour at some stage I would like to see this backline get a run: Pienaar, Goossen, Habana, JdV, Mapoe, JP, Taute.
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:20 am
Reply to Craven @ 7:57 am:
On what basis would he jump JDJ into the line-up against the All Blacks in this must-win game?
October 2nd, 2012 at 10:58 am
Read my comment: I would run him at outside centre. That is my opinion, not Heyneke’s and not yours, mine.
As to the basis: He has impressed me more at centre since he came back than what JdJ has. JdJ had a very quiet Superugby campaign compared to his previous efforts, in my view at least.
October 2nd, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Reply to Morné @ 9:24 pm:
I realize that but I was being facetious…
On what effing basis does he get a call up over a host of other guys… even in his own team surely CJ is a better blindside player….
October 2nd, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Reply to Craven @ 10:58 am:
Er I was reading YOUR comment and asking why YOU thought he should jump past JDJ… lol!
Mapoe hardly played any decent S15 so I’m presuming (perhaps incorrectly) you’re basing it on his current form in the Currie Cup?
My assessment… they’re both strong runners, both quick but JDJ has a quicker turn of pace, and he steps better… whilst I rate neither as having top level ball-skills… JDJ has at least improved in this respect with some great off-loads…
In short on top of that… Mapoe still too raw (a-la-Mvovu) for test rugby’s chess game… whilst JDJ has some experience of two full S15 seasons and a handful of tests now…
October 2nd, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Now as an aside… we all know Habana has one of the highest work-rates in the team and goes looking for his own opportunities… but does anyone think there is a correlation with better ball and swopping wings… I’ve always noticed the Boks seem to swing more ball to the right than left during games (no real analysis done on the topic though)…
October 2nd, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Reply to bryce_in_oz @ 12:31 pm:
Seems I was a bit trigger happy in my response. Apologies for that.
I hear you on JdJ and the experience he would bring, but seeing that we had Taute there last week and he coped, why not Mapoe?
October 2nd, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Reply to Craven @ 2:58 pm:
I guess that was Heyneke’s gamble… it would not have been mine… even though I currently rate Taute’s all-round ability over Mapoe (as did Mitchell)…
I would have gone with JDJ for many of the above reasons and their WP combo…
October 2nd, 2012 at 4:16 pm
We must watch this Raymond Rhule from
the Cheetahs.
Seems he has everything bar experience.
October 2nd, 2012 at 4:22 pm
Reply to Boertjie @ 4:16 pm:
So I keep hearing…
Boks would have a squad of 50 test class players if we made a list of every Currie Cup player being punted of late…
October 2nd, 2012 at 8:13 pm
Did you watch the junior RWC Bryce… he was the outside center/wing of the Boks. Outstanding young player, very good positional player, runner and passer. CC is where young players have to start Bryce.
October 3rd, 2012 at 12:05 am
Rhule is big and strong and FAST.
And black.
Will like to see what happens to
(injury prone) Paul Jordaan as well.
October 3rd, 2012 at 2:46 am
Reply to DavidS @ 8:13 pm:
Indeed I did… I was happy for him to replace ‘Skosan’ (I think)… the entire team impressed in the final (not so the opening rounds… but they showed guts)…
I’m not pissing on the parade… but across the blogs particularly Voldy… the delirium of ‘who should be in the Bok side now after never even playing half a season of CC rugby’ syndrome irritates me…
October 3rd, 2012 at 2:48 am
Reply to bryce_in_oz @ 2:46 am:
It’s about time some of the Ghanians and Nigerians living in RSA started to come through the ranks as is the case with Rhule…