Willemse out of Bok tour as Hanekom replaces him

The groin injury suffered by Damian Willemse in the first half of the DHL Stormers’ Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with Glasgow Warriors has ruled him out of the Springbok end of year tour of Scotland, England and Wales.

Willemse has missed the entire international season so far due to a hand injury that kept him out of the closing stages of the Stormers’ 2023/2024 URC campaign but after making a strong comeback to the game playing for the Stormers on their overseas tour and then producing a man of the match performance against Munster, he was selected in the Bok squad earlier in the week.

𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Cameron Hanekom has been called up to the Springbok squad for the #AutumnNationsSeries with Damian Willemse ruled out due to a groin injury 🚨🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/73smKx34WK

— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 27, 2024

However, he limped off in some discomfort not long after scoring a try in the 33rd minute of the Stormers’ 28-17 defeat at the hands of Glasgow at Danie Craven Stadium on Saturday.

When Stormers coach John Dobson addressed the media after the game, Willemse was undergoing scans, as was fellow Bok Frans Malherbe, who apparently had an ankle complaint when he came off. Malherbe has clearly been cleared to tour, but Willemse hasn’t, with SA Rugby announcing on Sunday morning that Bok coach Rassie Erasmus has called up Vodacom Bulls No 8 Cameron Hanekom as Willemse’s replacement.

Hanekom’s selection means he becomes the only uncapped player in the 35 man Bok squad that will prepare for the opening game against Scotland in Jersey from this week. The Scotland game will be played on 9 November, with the big game against England a week later, 16 November. The Boks conclude their tour in Cardiff with a match against Wales on 22 November.

Dobson described the loss of Willemse in the 33rd minute as a big blow to the team’s plans in the game against Glasgow and it is true that the Stormers were well in the game and leading when he went off.

The Stormers also lost another Springbok in flanker Ben-Jason Dixon earlier in the game to what looked like a leg injury. Dixon was not selected to tour but given that he was up supporting his teammates from the side of the field later in the game his condition doesn’t appear serious enough to threaten his participation in the Stormers’ next game, which will be against the Hollywoodbets Sharks in Durban on 30 November.

“Losing Damian was a big blow for our plans around this game. It was a massive blow,” Dobson said.

“Losing two Springboks in the first half was a concern, particularly as we were playing against a team with 17 internationals who were building up towards the autumn internationals in the northern hemisphere.”

INCONSISTENT LIBBOK

Manie Libbok, so brilliant against Argentina for the Boks in the game in Mbombela that clinched South Africa the Castle Lager Rugby Championship four weeks ago, was back to his most inconsistent in what was his first appearance of the season for the Stormers, and made mistakes that contributed to a disjointed Stormers performance that fell short of the cohesion that was shown when Willemse was at flyhalf in the second half of the previous game against Munster.

Dobson perhaps erred by reshuffling his backs too much - skipper Dan du Plessis has never looked as comfortable at No 13 as he is at inside centre, and the usual outside centre Ruhan Nel doesn’t look quite the threat out wide that the benched Suleiman Hartzenberg is.

Not that Dobson blamed the selection on the defeat, and he was right not to, as it was a day when too many players just misfired.

“That (the reshuffle and the injuries) wasn’t the reason we lost. We can look at ourselves individually around how well we played within that structure,” said Dobson.