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Springboks get double Rugby Championship injury boost

Pieter-Steph du Toit, Captain of South Africa poses with the trophy after winning the Summer Rugby International between South Africa and Wales at Twickenham Stadium on June 22, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Two injured Springboks have recovered sufficiently to warrant a place in the touring party to face Australia in August.

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Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed that Pieter-Steph du Toit and Steven Kitshoff have been cleared to play against Australia and their names will no doubt appear on the touring squad list that he will announce on Tuesday.

Kitshoff has been out of action since April, after suffering a knee injury while playing for Ulster in a Challenge Cup quarterfinal defeat to French side Clermont.

Video Spacer

Portugal coach Simon Mannix reflects on the Test match against the Boks

Video Spacer

Portugal coach Simon Mannix reflects on the Test match against the Boks

That injury kept him out of the two-Test series against Ireland as well as the clash against Portugal in Bloemfontein this past weekend.

However, his coach at the Stormers, John Dobson, confirmed that the prop is close to returning to the pitch.

Du Toit also got injured in the second Test but has recovered quicker than anticipated and should be on the plane to Australia.

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Erasmus also confirmed that Malcolm Marx would be ready to face the Wallabies in the second Test on August 17.

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He sustained a tibia fracture in the second Test against Ireland in Durban after being cleaned out by Irish captain Caelan Doris.

The Springboks face the Wallabies at Lang Park cauldron in Brisbane on August 10, followed by the second Test in Perth on August 17.

Erasmus was asked if any of the debutants did enough against Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday to merit a tick next to their names for the tour to Australia.

He said Jasper Wiese is still unavailable due to a lengthy ban after he received a red card in his final match for the Leicester Tigers against the Exeter Chiefs for lifting Ross Vincent dangerously, resulting in Vincent’s head striking the ground.

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Wiese will only be available after the two-Test series against the Wallabies.

“There is a squad of 42 with players currently in and out of our squad,” Erasmus told reporters after the Portugal Test in Bloemfontein.

“Jasper [Wiese] must still come back, Damian Willemse must still come back, Pieter-Steph du Toit is cleared, Steven Kitshoff is cleared, and it looks like Malcolm Marx can play the second Australia game.

“So we will have to juggle a few things.

“There are lots of players that can play for the Springboks,” Erasmus said but declined to mention any names.

“Some [of the youngsters] will be integrated slowly and some might tour Australia.

“But they might not play against the All Blacks and then we have Argentina [September 21] at the end.

“So we’ve got a plan.

“It would’ve been lovely if the Ireland match had also been a win,” the coach commented.

It was clear that the young prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who scored a try on debut against Portugal, might have done enough to impress the Springbok coach and could be one of the lucky few youngsters to warrant selection for the touring party.

“What Jan-Hendrik Wessels did in the loose as a loosehead, I think there is pressure on the other looseheads.

“Players grow older and we have our succession planning, but some guys shock you with how early they are ready.

“You must remember it was against Portugal.

“If we had to put last week’s team [who played against Ireland] up against the Portuguese, [who knows?].

“Portugal tried hard, but yes, the guys played well and we are happy,” Erasmus concluded.

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11 Comments
c
carlos 213 days ago

Quite a remarkable recovery from a “fractured tibia”. I wonder what “medication” heals bone so quickly. Or who diagnosed the fracture and how serious was it. Maybe some disinformation flying around. From the Boks? Not possible!

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SM 1 hour ago
Where is the new breed of All Black 10?

NZ Rugby high performance has fallen behind, it used to pump out more quality 10s than it had teams for. Now there are no international quality players coming through the system and the players that are coming through are not getting enough quality minutes driving teams on the field.


JOC was a great pick up for the Crusaders.


Both Rivez and Taha have a lot of potential and some mentoring from a player like JOC could bring their game management, tactical kicking and dealing with the pressure of being the driver of a Super Rugby team at a young age as he has been through it and made a few mistakes in his younger years.


This old school view that NZR has about not selecting any players from overseas is an 80s amateur view.


The ABs don't need to pick the whole squad from overseas but if the had 2-3 players that had already put in some time in Super Rugby it benifits both the ABs and the next level of talent that can build skills in Super Rugby rather than be lost to Japan, the UK or France.


NZR is losing sponsors and players are leaving for the extra dollars earlier in their careers now.


Professional careers are short and the NZR sabbaticals don't cut it anymore for the top elite AB players.


The Japanese League One teams want the big ticket international players for longer contracts to develop more Japan eligible players by playing with these top tier international players for their future and to make a quality depth pool of players for the Japan national team to be higher ranked internationally.


NZR need to get a professional attitude as the current lip service they give makes them look like a 3 ring circus and the ABs slide further from the top the longer this short sighted amateur thinking forms their decisions on key areas which holts professionalism moving forward for rugby in NZ.

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