Lood, Eben join RG on injured list as warning lights flicker

Warning lights are flashing for the Springbok management ahead of the hope of playing any tests this year after no less than three frontline locks went down injured – two of them in the last weekend.

RG Snyman’s season-ending ACL injury two weeks ago was not only a setback for Munster, but for the Springboks as well, and he was joined this weekend by two more World Cup-winning locks – Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager - who both went off injured in action in Europe, with no clarity as to the extent of their injuries.

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This comes against the backdrop of the Sanzaar meeting on Thursday to decide on the viability of this season’s Rugby Championship, which was set to be held in New Zealand between 7 November and 12 December this year.

With stringent conditions already on teams and a two-week quarantine, as well as specialised Covid-19 medical personnel and extended squads that are necessary for the tournament, it seems that the Championship now hangs on a knife-edge after several setbacks over the past few weeks.

The latest came this weekend when six Argentinean players tested positive for Covid-19 and joined a seventh player who was tested positive a week earlier.

New Zealand has adopted a “go hard, go early” strategy to counter Covid-19 and has insisted on a 14-day quarantine for touring squads. Whether or not they would be happy to accept players who had recovered from the virus as well is an open question.

Add to this the fact that all three touring squads – Argentina, South Africa and Australia – were set to quarantine in Queenstown, but problems with finding suitable hotels now mean, according to reports from New Zealand, that all three squads won’t be able to quarantine at the same time.

With the news that Etzebeth and De Jager have joined Snyman on the sidelines, it makes Jacques Nienaber’s team selection headache even tougher, with the European-based Springboks likely to have featured heavily in his side.

Etzebeth left the field 12 minutes into the second half with a rib injury, the extent of which will be apparent this week, but it was clear that the pain he was in would leave him on the sidelines for a while.

De Jager went off the field after “popping a shoulder” in the second half, his third such injury in a short span, and much will depend on how badly he is injured.

De Jager underwent surgery on both shoulders in 2019, after he was injured in the World Cup final and it delayed his debut for his club Sale Sharks.

Add to this the uncertainty if Pieter-Steph du Toit can play or if his injury will recover in time for any action this year, and it leaves Nienaber and Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus in a pickle.

Nienaber wants to have at least six weeks of rugby for the Springboks before they would need to leave by 18 October to fulfil a quarantine, and with rugby now set to only start a proper competition on 10 October, this request seems to be a lost cause.

This would mean the Boks would go into the Championship underdone, against Australia and New Zealand who have already had two Bledisloe Cup games and a full domestic competition, and place their world No 1 ranking on the line.

Either way, it’s a lot to think about for Erasmus and co, and the three Bok lock injuries don’t make the decision any easier for him.