Boks rocked by injuries
17 May 2006
The Vodacom Super 14 has already taken its toll on the 45-man Springbok squad, with the potentially most damaging to that of flyhalf Andre Pretorius, who will probably go under the knife to sort out a groin problem.
It gets worse. New cap BJ Botha will almost certainly need an operation on his back, while Marius Joubert has already broken his hand.
“It is a problem, especially up front where guys like BJ Botha, CJ van der Linde and Guthro Steenkamp are out injured,” White told Sapa. “The selectors did a great job of providing me with cover for the flyhalf position and Butch James is a blessing while Brent Russell, Meyer Bosman and Jaco van der Westhuyzen can all cover at flyhalf.”
White said he would not be calling up any replacements for the injured players.
Meanwhile, the Bulls players may be out of the camp for another 10 days, should they defeat the Crusaders.
“If the Bulls can emulate their achievement against the Stormers then they could be out for two weeks,” said Springbok captain John Smit.
White believes that the experience the Bulls gained in last year’s semi-final loss will be invaluable as they look to take on the champions in Christchurch on Saturday.
“I will be very surprised if the Bulls don’t take that experience last year and turn it around and that is because they have had continuity and experience,” said White.
The Boks kicked off their camp with fitness tests on Wednesday and will start on-field training on Thursday morning at Shimla Park.
54 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
18 May 2006, 11:05 am
Kamikazes, I think there’s an opportunity for all those qualities you mention about Butch to be used at inside centre. Almost like the Crusaders use Aron Mauger – awesome vision, distribution and tactical kicking. Everything that De Villiers is/was plus a good kicking game. Pair that with the Honnibal-like Bosman at 10 (or Pretorius, when he’s recovered) and Jaco at 15 and I think we’re looking pretty solid.
18 May 2006, 12:47 pm
I think Butch needs a few games without injury before we can all judge him, he looked in decent form for the Sharks
18 May 2006, 14:55 pm
It’s a shame Morne Steyn isn’t in the Boks. Steyn slotted a goal in the loss against the saders, no-one in Sa wuold have got that. His running with ball in hand is also very good. He will be the Bok flyhalf one day and his form will boot all the current flyhalfs out of contention
18 May 2006, 15:10 pm
breeker, i like your idea of Fourie at 12 and bring Habana or Snyman at 13.
10.Butch/Bosman
11.Paulse/Gaffie
12.Fourie/JDV
13.Snyman/Joubert
14.Habana
15.Monty/Jaco
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.