The Springboks will be nervously waiting for confirmation on their star players' injury concerns ahead of their match against Scotland.
Springbok prop Ox Nche (centre) acknowledges the crowd while walking around the field with a knee brace on, after he was replaced her in his sides 45-21 Nations Championship win over England at Ellis Park on Saturday night. Picture: Steve Haag – Nations Championship via Getty Images
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi, lock enforcer Eben Etzebeth and prop Ox Nche, along with hybrid star André Esterhuizen are all in doubt for their Nations Championship second round clash against Scotland at Loftus Versfeld this coming Saturday.
Kolisi and Etzebeth were late withdrawals from the Bok side on Saturday that went on to beat England 45-21 in their tournament opener at Ellis Park, while Nche was replaced early in the match with a knee injury, and replacement Esterhuizen came off with a head knock.
Erasmus, who explained that Etzebeth had been concussed earlier in the week and that Kolisi pulled up with a hamstring injury at captain’s run on Friday, admitted that all four could miss the game against Scotland, or be available once the severity of the injuries is confirmed in the coming days.
“Ox came off with a knee injury, and I must be honest, it does not look good. It is just my gut feeling, but I think he will be out. When a guy like Ox says he can’t go on it is usually serious,” said Erasmus at the post match press conference following the win at Ellis Park.
“Eben took a knock to the head in training, and he could be okay for Scotland this week, but we wait and see. André also got a concussion in the game and I am not sure what category that will be, so we await clarification on that one.
“Siya picked up a hamstring strain late in the week, and we’re not yet sure what the grade is. He will go for scans tomorrow (Sunday). If it is grade one, he might recover in time, as that is usually 10 days, but if it is a grade two he won’t be ready.”
Better news
In slightly better news, Erasmus said that Lood de Jager might be ready for Scotland, while Franco Mostert was still two weeks out from returning.
Despite the injury worries the Boks should be pretty pleased with a solid night’s work against England that has given them a great start to the inaugural Nations Championship.
Things did not go all their own way as despite a fast start that saw them race into a 17-0 lead after just 12 minutes, the Boks showed the same frailties they did when they started similarly against Australia last year, before capitulating to a bitterly disappointing defeat at the same ground.
This time round however, despite allowing England to fight back to 17-14 at halftime, they produced a much better second half effort to reestablish a good lead, and then pull away emphatically after England’s ill-discipline cost them late in the match.
“We did have flashbacks to last year and it’s easy to say after you win that you learn from mistakes, but the chat at halftime was definitely, ‘Boys we’ve been here before and we know how it feels if we don’t rectify things in the second half’,” said Erasmus.
“A lot of things that Tony (Brown) and Stokke (Mzwandile Stick) said were spot on. Obviously, we had to be really honest with one another at halftime, but luckily, we had that game last year and we could rectify things during the half-time chat.”
