Boks could be without Kolisi, Arendse and will make changes for Cape

The Springboks may have one hand on the Castle Lager Rugby Championship after their come-from-behind win against the All Blacks in Johannesburg on Saturday, but they will have to do without two of their stars this coming week for the return fixture in Cape Town.

While it hasn’t been confirmed yet, the Boks will undoubtedly need to do without winger Kurt-Lee Arendse for the return fixture, after he sustained a concussion and will need to follow the return-to-play protocols before he can get onto the field again.

The Boks may also need to find a new captain for the clash, with Siya Kolisi resembling a boxer who went through 12 rounds of a slugfest as he appeared on Saturday night after the game at the post-match press conference.

Kolisi’s diagnosis has not been made yet, but as coach Rassie Erasmus put it in jest, “it looks like a cheek fracture”, which is likely to rule Kolisi out of the return fixture.

“I’m not a medical doctor but I think it is a fracture,” Erasmus smiled, looking at Kolisi, “The doctor will definitely have to look into it. He doesn’t normally look like this, he looks a bit better.”

The win, where the Boks came from behind at 17-27 down to win 31-27, has left them on 14 points in the Rugby Championship, eight ahead of New Zealand, who are now on six, while Australia, following their win over Argentina, have four, one behind Los Pumas on five.

If the Boks win this weekend in Cape Town, they will all but sew up the Rugby Championship, while a loss would see them needing to win one of the two games against Argentina to claim the trophy.

CHANGES EXPECTED

It would also go a long way to showing the Boks are not just a World Cup team, and that they can dominate between World Cups, while a fourth win against New Zealand in a row would be historic in itself.

The Boks did say though, that they would be making more changes this week, and not just those that are injury-enforced. With their three victories in this year’s Rugby Championship, they have been given the space to continue with their wider squad development and it is likely more fringe players will be given an opportunity to make their mark.

Erasmus, speaking before the Argentina v Australia game, said while the Boks wanted to claim the Rugby Championship, they needed to continue on their wider squad development plan.

“Winning the Castle Lager Rugby Championship is very important, and I would definitely love to win it, but we will definitely move players around next week and hopefully they make it, but we won’t get ahead of ourselves.

“Everything didn’t go right today, and we’ll have a look at why we didn’t get out of our half at stages and why we didn’t capitalise on chances a few times. Our focus is only on next week.”

Erasmus had a lot of praise for players like Aphelele Fassi and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu but the praise was meant across the board for others like Ruan Nortje, Gerhard Steenekamp and Elrigh Louw, all of which made an impact when they were on the field.

“We wanted those guys to experience this level of international rugby and we also wanted to see if they could handle it,” Erasmus said, with a caveat that Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s form at 10 does not mean the end for Handre Pollard or Manie Libbok.

“This is how you learn and develop characters, I think Fassi came through with flying colours, Sacha also came through very well and this is not to say Handrè or Manie are out of it. We have to keep on building squads.

“Sacha was even emotional in the changeroom after the match. New Zealand is big and it is big for players to step up from playing against lower-tier nations to playing against the likes of Ireland and then the All Blacks who are just an amazing team.

“It takes guys like these to do it in a game like this. Even when it comes to Ben-Jason (Dixon), we were feeling sorry for Pieter-Steph du Toit, who has played four, five and seven. He even did not know his name anymore and we are happy with all the youngsters.”

OPPORTUNITY FOR MAPIMPI AND MOODIE

With Arendse out, the likes of veteran Makazole Mapimpi or rising star Canan Moodie can fill the void, while Marco van Staden is the likely successor for Kolisi, although the Boks could also start with Kwagga Smith in the role.

It will be interesting to see if some of the fringe players, such as Grant Williams, Salmaan Moerat, Gerhard Steenekamp or Elrigh Louw get a start next week, while other options are to bring back the likes of Steven Kitshoff, who was due to play for Western Province in the Currie Cup on Sunday.

More clarity is likely to be revealed when the Boks host their first press conference in Cape Town on Monday.