Injuries rip through Bok camp
6 Jul 2011
Twenty one elite players have all but been ruled out of the Springboks’ Tri-Nations campaign through injury.
Schalk Burger and Duane Vermeulen are certain not to play any role in the southern hemisphere showpiece, while the remainder of those players will be sent back to their franchises for rehabilitation, according to Springbok coach Peter de Villiers, who appeared to deeply lament the situation.
De Villiers said a final decision on their availability for the away leg of the competition will be made by Friday, but he didn’t seem optimistic about their chances of recovering. The entire group of players listed didn’t train in Cape Town on Monday, but none are ruled out of contention for the World Cup.
Others like Juan Smith, Heinrich Brüssow and Gurthrö Steenkamp, may be available at some point in the home Tests, team doctor Craig Roberts said. He added: ‘There are a number of other players who have been playing through Super Rugby with chronic injuries and need rehabilitation now to avoid the risk of the breaking down with longer term injuries in the near future.’
De Villiers said: ‘The leadership group is particularly thin. That can cause problems. But the guys that are fit will look at my body language, which has to be positive. I haven’t given up on the Tri-Nations.’
He added that the elongated Super Rugby campaign contributed to the lengthy injury list, but was quick to stress that he understood the pressure the franchise coaches were under to improve their chances of winning by picking their best players consistently.
‘I’m not blaming anyone for this situation. They have performance clauses in their contracts. But I think they’ve learnt from this season as well. We definitely can’t have a Super Rugby squad of 30. You have to have 40 and those players must all be of a good standard. How we achieve that is more complicated.’
Asked whether Vermeulen still had a chance of making the World Cup squad without having his aptitude tested at Test level, De Villiers said: ‘Duane is very unlucky. He is one of the guys I never gave a chance and now that I had my mind set on him [his body] gave up on me. We’ll assess him going forward, but if he can’t be there, he can’t be there.’
De Villiers also intimated that Zimbabwe-born Brian Mujati’s non-selection was down to his struggles to gain citizenship. ‘Brian’s situation is a boardroom decision. There are a few things that need to be attended to regarding him, non of them to do with on-field performance. If the relevant people solve the problem he could be in the mix.’
Injured players unavailable for selection for the away leg of the Tri-Nations: Duane Vermeulen (knee), Fourie du Preez (knee), Schalk Burger (thumb), Victor Matfield (calf and neck), Frans Steyn (ankle and back), Jaque Fourie (groin), Jean de Villiers (groin), BJ Botha (knee), Juan Smith (Achilles), Willem Alberts (shoulder), Bismarck du Plessis (shoulder), Andries Bekker (shoulder, groin and ankle), Jannie du Plessis (knee), Francois Louw (clavicle), Gurthrö Steenkamp (forearm), Francois Hougaard (ankle), Butch James (knee), JP Pietersen (back), Tendai Mtawarira (hamstring), Bryan Habana (shoulder), Bakkies Botha (knee).
99 Comments
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6 Jul 2011, 15:23 pm
@grant10(grant10)-35:
dont say that. are any of the other players in the preliminary wc squad less deserving?
6 Jul 2011, 15:24 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-37:
thet took 3rd place in 2007
6 Jul 2011, 15:25 pm
So, if the senior Boks play, they are the Fat Boys Club. If they are rested then it is all doom and gloom. No pleasing some people!
6 Jul 2011, 15:26 pm
@he’s not the messiah. he’s a very naughty boy!(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-52:
Yeah and again this year. You obviously alluding to the Bill Webb Ellis. That might just be pushing it this year though.
6 Jul 2011, 15:27 pm
@Beertjie(Beertjie)-53:
No he is playing!
6 Jul 2011, 15:27 pm
In WC year who really gives a fark about a shortened 3N ?/
Bigger fish to fry this year. well done for seeing the bigger picture here PDEV !!
Also if you analyse those injuries many are genuine and others probably just precautionary, but the decision not to play them if they are not 100% is the correct one !!!
6 Jul 2011, 15:29 pm
I will still watch all the tri nations games. We all know this is definitely not the main event so why get stressed when young guns are being blooded. The only problem is lack of tested combos, the individual players who are not on the injury list are more than capable. This is a good move as it will rest some of the old boys who have seemed to be buggered at the end of the long super 15 season.
6 Jul 2011, 15:29 pm
@Beertjie(Beertjie)-53: ha ha…too true bru
6 Jul 2011, 15:35 pm
So Francois Louw broke his collar-bone and finished the match…!!??? Seems Schalk is not our only player who plays with broken bones… And also explains why Andries has not been firing on all cylinders…
@grant10(grant10)-44:
what this all means is that the Super 15 format simply has to change… whereas the old format allowed players to get thru the season unscathed… the new format virtually guarantees every player WILL get injured through the season at some point or other… it is crazy to expect the players to subject themselves to such a brutal regime….
6 Jul 2011, 15:38 pm
@ufo(ufo)-59:
I say we should be getting rid of the bottom team from each country and revert to the Super 12.
6 Jul 2011, 15:39 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-60:
Hey Bud… You’re spot on the money… Was saying exactly the same thing a couple of weeks ago…
6 Jul 2011, 15:41 pm
i find it sad how absolutely everything is about the RWC these days. last year we got thumped 3-0 by the AB’s and all everyone can think about is whether the ABs are peaking too soon or how this will affect the WC next year. Aside from the WC, only the Lions Tour seems to hold any sort of meaning anymore, or if *someone else* wins the 3N. the whole format is stale and frustrating.
6 Jul 2011, 15:45 pm
well i hope the young boks take this up as a huge opportunity and go down under with thunder in there hearts!
6 Jul 2011, 15:46 pm
@fantasticbarnsmell(fantasticbarnsmell)-62: post of the year my man…
6 Jul 2011, 15:51 pm
“Andries Bekker (shoulder, groin and ankle)”
Yep, when you’re about 12 foot 10 there’s a lot of you to get injured.
6 Jul 2011, 15:58 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-60: Exactly then we can watch a quality Super 12 season and still have our beloved Currie Cup in tact. I say, Fk the Aussies and their Super 20 aspirations.
6 Jul 2011, 16:08 pm
Watch the headlines now in the Australasian media……”Boks devalue Tri nations’ ……’Boks making up the numbers’ lol
6 Jul 2011, 16:09 pm
if it were me:
Coenie
Smit
Kruger
Flip
Muller
stegmann (would far rather have brussouw or daniel but as ratel is injured and daniel isnt in the squad there isnt much of a choice)
Rossouw
Spies
Pienaar
Steyn
WO
JDJ
Mvovo
Basson
Aplon
And kick chase all day!
6 Jul 2011, 16:11 pm
Will the first team Boks have enough game together as a unit before the game against Wales?
No doubt resting players in a Wc year is the right call given the age of our senior players….however, Smith, Brussouw<,Du Preez must get Fit soon they need all the game time they can get before the Wc
6 Jul 2011, 16:12 pm
jake white’s 2007 squad for the away leg of tri-nations:
South Africa – 15-JP Pietersen; 14-Breyton Paulse, 13-Waylon Murray, 12-Wynand Olivier, 11-Jaco Pretorius; 10-Derick Hougaard, 9-Ruan Pienaar; 8-Jacques Cronje, 7-Pedrie Wannenburg, 6-Wikus van Heerden, 5-Johann Muller (c), 4-Albert van den Berg; 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 1-CJ van der Linde.
Subs: 16-Gary Botha, 17-Eddie Andrews, 18-Gerrie Britz, 19-Hilton Lobberts, 20-Michael Claassens, 21-Peter Grant, 22-Tonderai Chavhanga.
6 Jul 2011, 16:13 pm
@semi(semi)-68:
one change
Muller is rubbish always has been.play rossouw at 5, play johnson at 7
6 Jul 2011, 16:13 pm
@semi(semi)-68: I agree with your team except for the 12/13 combo
Id go with 12. JDJ 13. Sadie
6 Jul 2011, 16:15 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-71: ya id make that change too….johnson deserves a call up
6 Jul 2011, 16:17 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-70:
That same team was up 17-0 vs Aus in Brisbane until they fell apart in sec half
selections at 4/5/7/8/10/11/12 were weakest
6 Jul 2011, 16:20 pm
I would love sadie to be given a chance, but his time will come.
Thought picking the biggest forward pack and playing a kick chase game was the only way to avoid being embarrassed with all those players missing
6 Jul 2011, 16:22 pm
well…my dream starting 15 would be
15 F steyn
11 habana
12 jdj
13 jf
14 jpp
10 butch
9 fdp
8 vermeulen
7 j smith
6 brussell sprout
5 matfield
4 bakkies
3 jannie [ now that mujati deal in its moer ]
2 bissy 1
1 beast.
seems like all my okes crocked!!!
6 Jul 2011, 16:29 pm
Let us be honest here the tri-nations is SECOND to the world cup if we win it fine and if we do not who really cares i don`t.For me it is getting boring and i have read a lot of posts that agree with me, this is the time to blood the youngsters and they should do it if we get beat so what,this is a good time to rest the players whom snor thinks have to be rested.
6 Jul 2011, 16:47 pm
Can Flip play no 5? Isn’t he a 4?
Anyway it’ll be interresting to see who PDV announces as the team,
6 Jul 2011, 16:50 pm
Lets see who really needs a rest of this lot and those that have genuine long term injuries.
I would’ve rested:
Schalk – but now long term injury – played most of S15 anyway – deserves a break
Matfield – played most of S15 anyway – deserves a break
Willem Alberts – played most of S15 anyway – deserves a break
Bismarck du Plessis – played most of S15 anyway – deserves a break
Andries Bekker – played most of S15 anyway – deserves a break
Jannie Dup – played most of S15 anyway – deserves a break
Beast – played most of S15 anyway – deserves a break
The rest should have been available to tour – unless serious injury like Vermeulen – and could be managed off the bench.
6 Jul 2011, 17:41 pm
@I am a stormer(I am a stormer)-79: I think players like F Steyn, BJ, played a helleva lot of rugby in there season, therefor the rest….
6 Jul 2011, 20:13 pm
@grant10(grant10)-80:
But their last game was how long ago. The NH season ended quite a few weeks ago.
Guys can still be managed carefully. And as has been said repeatedly, the NH players need to adapt to the pace at which our play.
Players like you mentioned can be eased in off the bench.
6 Jul 2011, 20:19 pm
So we alerady know 21 of the players going to the world cup,
other 9 should be in my opinnion Lambie, De Jongh, Mvovo, Flip, Deysel, Brussow, Ruan, BJ Botha, Johnson,
Hope im not meantioning anyone twice,
But agreed SANZAR should be slapped, tri nations in a wc yr should be seen as nothing more then a trial and warm up for all the teams, and all should be allowed to freely choose 2nd choice players, dont lable them as a b side, these are international athletes and we aint so they dont deserve degrading lables
GO BOKKE!!!!!!!
6 Jul 2011, 20:22 pm
With all these guys being rested and conitioned this had better be the fittest bok team ever to leave our shores.
Helps himself to another glass of wine.
6 Jul 2011, 20:39 pm
@Gunther is looking to the future with hope in his heart.(gunther)-83:
“Fittest bok team to ever leave our shores.”
Most of them are crippled.
6 Jul 2011, 20:52 pm
bladdy hell, when’s the first test match – going to be a very wierd team if all of those guys are injured.
Thats our virtually entire RWC team injured, and many of their backups
Frontrow- Beast, Gurthro, Bismarck, Jannie, BJ
Locks – Bakkies, Matfield, Becker
Loosies – Brussow, Louw, Juan, Alberts, Burger and Vermeulen
Scrumhalf – FdP, Hougaard,
Centres – JdV and Fourie
Back 3 – Habana, JP and Steyn
I got no idea who they going to choose, but if Hargreaves, Spies, Kanko and Ndungage in the mix – what a waste of an opportunity.
starting pack and their backups injured, except for danie rossouw.
6 Jul 2011, 21:08 pm
So who is likely to be picked?
props: Mujati’s out and presumably CJ as well since not in stormers squad. Januarie’s retired and Pienaar’s in ireland – so who gets the nod as scrumhalf?
hopefully potgieter gets picked, but i can see them going with a v ordinary backline in olivier, ndungane and jantjies
6 Jul 2011, 21:13 pm
@cab(cab)-86: stegman not injured
6 Jul 2011, 21:22 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-87:
yeah quite correct, should be a cleansweep for the Bokke.
6 Jul 2011, 21:35 pm
@cab(cab)-85:
23 July vs Aus in Sydney
30 July vs NZ in Wellington
Not all the “injuries” for the away leg are life threatening.
We’ll be ok for the home stretch and the WC.
7 Jul 2011, 00:24 am
proof once again that there is no longer any pride in bokke rugby.
the sooner you guys move up north and play with the other apologists the better, then you can all comfort yourselves for four years using the “building for the WC” excuse.
I don’t care if my team never wins another WC in my lifetime, I am much more content knowing they place value in EVERY test match they play.
surely the players are getting rest now there is no longer a SA team competing in super rugby
7 Jul 2011, 00:39 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-90:
Theyre not injured, Pops. Noones really pretending theyre not, theyve all bought in to it.
Nice turn of comedy by Krusty at the press conference tho.
7 Jul 2011, 01:15 am
Springboks injury list: Duane Vermeulen (in-grown hair), Fourie du Preez (blister), Schalk Burger (man flu), Victor Matfield (splinter in finger), Frans Steyn (haemorrhoids), Jaque Fourie (bacne), Jean de Villiers (coldsore), BJ Botha (chapped lips), Juan Smith (bad hair day), Willem Alberts (graze on knee), Bismarck du Plessis (scratched by cat), Andries Bekker ( paper cut ), Jannie du Plessis (stomach cramps), Francois Louw (occupational overuse syndrome), Gurthrö Steenkamp (sore throat), Francois Hougaard (in-grown fingernail), Butch James (stye in eye), JP Pietersen (pimple in nose), Tendai Mtawarira (dry skin), Bryan Habana (bit tongue), Bakkies Botha (sunburn)
7 Jul 2011, 01:52 am
@eddie(eddievxx)-92: lol gold.
This is really a disgrace from SARU. I know everyone will say that the players need the rest and f&*k everyone else but the fact is that this will seriously p&*s off the sponsors and broadcasters and this will have knock on effects. It’s going to cost us a lot of money and our partners a lot of money. It’s just a fact that in professional sport sometimes you need to suck it up and just do what the money providers want.
When we start losing all our players to the cashed up NH clubs we can all thank SARU for going back on their word and not fielding the strongest team. Not to mention the fact that no one will ever trust what we say again.
7 Jul 2011, 02:01 am
@eddie(eddievxx)-92:
7 Jul 2011, 02:08 am
chapped lips, i think i just shat myself.
7 Jul 2011, 04:01 am
to all the naysayers regarding empty stadiums at the WC…
One million tickets have now been sold for RWC 2011 after a surge in sales during the final phase of ticketing which opened on Monday.
Martin Snedden, CEO for Tournament Organiser Rugby New Zealand 2011 (RNZ 2011), admitted it was a fantastic boost ahead of the tournament.
“This has been a tremendous start to our final ticketing campaign and we are thrilled with the way fans in New Zealand and around the world have responded,” he said.
RNZ 2011 is forecasting total sales revenue of NZ$268.5m based on expected ticket sales of 1.35m from the 48 Tournament matches.
The sales in the final phase have boosted ticket revenue by NZ$17 million to NZ$220 million. This means RNZ 2011 has now reached 82% of its revenue target.
Over the last six weeks fans have purchased 211,000 tickets with a value of NZ$51 million.
“This is a fantastic result and is about where we expected to be with little over two months until the Tournament kicks-off,” he added.
Im glad there are those who have decided not to go to NZ for the WC because of Bryces performance, and those that think the WC is going to be played in front of empty stadiums can now have a glass of stfu !!
7 Jul 2011, 04:32 am
ahhhh SA’s
who’d want to do business with those who continually go back on their word ?
still, we should be thankful for small mercies… imagine if the Stormers did make the final, what with their injury toll would they have even been able to field a side?
7 Jul 2011, 07:41 am
how convenient?!?!?!?!
the entire A-side is injured of the Boks and are unable to play in the tri-nations…..but they will be 100% for the Wc……
25 players on the 1st team are injured….the 25 players going to the WC…..
a few days ago they were all 100% fit…after 1 day of training…they all injured….
but wait….. the team is only being anounced on saterday….. how muc hwill you bet that the players injured are all the players in teh WC sqaud????
how convenient…..
injured???? yeah right…. sounds like desperation to me…. but once again typical SA….
PDV couldn’t even look teh reporter in the eye when he said the team is injured…..
how convenient…..
you are more likely to get *** fcked by a leprechaurn……then the entire team getting injured after playing all their games….
how convenient…..
i was told that the AB were faking it in the S15 when they all got injured while playing their haerts out to get in the Ab team…..
SA rugby makes me sick…..
how convenient…..
the whole SA 1st team is injured and not able to play in the tri-nations…..
you can go tell that **** to SA supporters…not to me…..
how can you guys be proud of a team like SA
ek suig eerder my linker eier…..
8 Jul 2011, 11:25 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-65:
That was ali Williams excuse when he went before a judiciary for kicking a guy in the head:
“it’s a long way from my brain to my head sir, and really hard to coordinate”
When that didn’t work:
“but sir he kept headbutting my foot, he should be facing charges not me!”
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