Frans Steyn's World Cup hopes in major doubt

Frans Steyn, the double World Cup winning Springbok, could have his bid to appear in a fourth tournament in France later this year ruined by a knee injury which is likely to keep him out for “two to three months”.

Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie has confirmed the knee injury Steyn, who turns 35 next month, sustained in the 32-7 Currie Cup victory over the Bulls, has become a major hurdle for the big kicking Springbok.

Fourie said: “He’ll be out for about two to three months. Frans had a scope on his knee and the prognosis was worse than the doctor initially thought. It will be a substantial period on the sidelines. Our medical team believes it will be for most of the Currie Cup anyway.”

The Currie Cup concludes at the end of June and the World Cups starts in September with the Springboks in the same pool as Scotland, favourites Ireland, Tonga and Romania. That means Steyn has little rugby to aim for before the Springboks head off to France to defend the Cup they won in Japan in 2019, defeating England in the final – the same opponents Steyn beat winning the 2007 title.

“It’s a bit of a blow to his hopes, he really wanted to go for the World Cup,” said Fourie. “He’s worked really hard since the start of the year after his previous injury, [and] dropped quite a bit of weight. It’s a big setback for him, hopefully he’ll recover soon and maybe there’s still a bit of a door open for him, but we don’t have contact with the Bok coaches currently.We’ll see how it goes, but he needs to recover and get on the field again first.”

The Cheetahs’ do not have any pre-World Cup fixtures to help Steyn although there is the possibility of a mini-series with Australian Super Rugby side, the Force. “We’re not sure. We obviously try to have a few fixtures in the pipeline like the Toyota Challenge and there’s a plan to play against the Force home and away, but it’s not finalised yet,” added Fourie.

“It’s my hope we can nail those fixtures down to allow him to play in them. But, at the earliest, those games would take place in August.”