Lions and Bok flanker Ruan Venter has undergone shoulder surgery. Picture: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
While the Lions have made the perfect start to their 2024/25 United Rugby Championship season, they will be without rising flanker Ruan Venter for at least the next four months.
Also, the Springboks won’t be able to call on Venter’s services in November when the world champions tour to Europe for Tests against Scotland, England and Wales.
Venter’s shoulder injury will keep him sidelined until at least February, according to reports.
It would have been interesting to see if Bok boss Rassie Erasmus would have picked the big Lions flanker for the tour as he already has Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ben-Jason Dixon to call on, while it appears Franco Mostert, who has played blindside flank for the Boks before, could be back in action for the world champions next month after missing all the Tests so far this year.
According to Rapport, Venter, who made his Bok debut against Portugal in Bloemfontein in July, will undergo shoulder surgery this week.
Besides Mostert being available for the Boks, it appears scrumhalf Faf de Klerk will also be in line to tour after he, too, missed several Tests earlier this season because of an injury.
In further good news for Erasmus and the Boks, previously injured players such as Damian Willemse, RG Snyman and Jean Kleyn have already returned to action in the URC after spending several weeks and months on the sidelines with injuries.
It is, however, not yet known whether prop Steven Kitshoff will be available to tour with the Boks after being diagnosed with a neck injury, which some observers have said could bring a premature end to his playing career.
Another player who has been definitely ruled out of the tour is breakout flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu who recently had knee surgery.
Erasmus’ tour party to Europe next month will be much smaller than the group he had together during the Rugby Championship. The Bok boss is set to name his squad later this month, with the group expected to spend time in a training camp in Joburg prior to their trip north.
The Boks’ Tests are on November 10 (Scotland), 16 (England) and 23 (Wales).
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
