Discipline and injuries a slight concern for Springboks

A fantastic start to the Rugby Championship for the Springboks was slightly spoiled by ill-discipline and injury concerns ahead of the second game against the Wallabies in Perth this coming weekend.

During their 33-7 bonus point win in Brisbane, the Boks had three yellow cards, coming in the last 13 minutes of the match, which left them playing with 13-men for most of that period.

Luckily it didn’t cost them, as the Wallabies could only go over for one try in that period, which didn’t threaten the bonus point, however they will be aware of their poor disciplinary record in their last two games.

In their previous match against Portugal, with an admittedly largely fringe side, the Boks also had three cards — a red and two yellows — and if they do the same against stronger opponents they could be punished dearly.

Discipline

“We are happy with the performance, but not the three yellow cards,” explained Bok coach Rassie Erasmus after the match in Brisbane on Saturday.

“We also didn’t cherish the ball and look after it like a piece of gold, but at times we played with good structure and intent. So, we certainly don’t want to throw points away like that.

“We would have liked to keep them scoreless, but it would be arrogant to say that. The reality is we wanted to come here and win, and we are delighted that we were able to do that today.”

A major injury worry will be at lock, where the Boks had to do a late rejig after RG Snyman and Ruan Nortje were ruled out of the opening match.

Snyman, who was originally named to start, was always touch and go after picking up a niggle in the days before the Test, but Nortje, who was supposed to replace him, suffered a knock at the captains run.

This saw Pieter-Steph du Toit have to switch from flank to lock, Ben-Jason Dixon come in at seven, and Salmaan Moerat slot onto the bench, just before the game.

But despite the setbacks, Erasmus is confident that both Snyman and Nortje will be ready for the second match in Perth this weekend.

“RG has got a little bit of a foot injury and then Ruan was going to slot into the starting line-up because Salmaan is more of a front lock, who plays the same position as Eben (Etzebeth),” explained Erasmus on what was supposed to happen.

“But then RG didn’t pass his fitness test on Friday, and Ruan also hurt his knee. Luckily it doesn’t look too serious. So we are keeping both guys here (in the squad).”