The Springboks were dealt a heavy blow ahead of their test match against France on Saturday when it was confirmed that Lood de Jager was ruled out with a shoulder injury and there are concussion concerns with No 8 Jasper Wiese as well.
Assistant coach Deon Davids confirmed that De Jager was ruled out after he came off the field clutching his shoulder in the narrow defeat at the hands of Ireland in Dublin this past weekend.
“Lood de Jager has a shoulder injury and as such won’t be available for Saturday’s game,” Davids told a media conference on Monday.
“Unfortunately we don’t have a timeline. He left this morning for further consultation and as soon as the doctor informs us we will know better. At the moment we don’t have a timeline on his possible return to the squad.”
The likelihood is though, that De Jager is ruled out for the tour, at least given how serious the injury looked on Saturday and that either Franco Mostert or Marvin Orie will replace him for the test match against France.
“We know that Lood is a quality player and any team losing him as a five lock will feel that loss, but luckily we have experienced campaigners in Franco Mostert and Marvin Orie to slot into that place, who are familiar with test rugby. It is their opportunity now, it is a void that we need to fill and we feel those two guys in that position are capable of doing that.”
But later at the South African A side conference, A team coach Mzwandile Stick explained that the Du Preez twins - Jean-Luc and Dan were called up to the A side because of injuries in the Springbok squad.
Given the cover needed for the Bok squad the Du Preez’ twins make a handy replacement for the A side, but Stick revealed there was still concern over Wiese with the concussion protocols.
“Jasper is following the concussion protocols and that has meant that two extra guys will unfortunately stay with the Springboks at the moment,” Stick said.
Stick also revealed that Sacha Mngomezulu would be staying with the Springbok side because of a niggle he picked up in training last week with the Springboks and that Manie Libbok was staying with the national side to work more with the coaches and “give himself a chance to be selected.”
If Wiese is ruled out, then Kwagga Smith is the likely replacement at eighthman and Evan Roos could be in line for a spot on the bench.
Davids said that the team was disappointed with their loss to France and was keen on putting things right against France.
“We are obviously disappointed that we didn’t get the result that we wanted, but we had a good discussion about the game this morning around various aspects that we feel that we can be better at. Our focus is only on this game, we know France is a very good team and had a very good win over Australia this weekend, so we know it will be a big challenge for us but it is something that we are looking forward to and we know we need to get better,” Davids said.
The Bok team will be named on Tuesday.