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'That's a mouthful but I'm pleased there is now clarity'
By Liam Heagney
Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber has finally explained why injured Springboks Cobus Reinach and Johan Goosen have stayed with the national team in Pretoria while injured duo Frans Steyn and Duane Vermeulen weren’t included. Nienaber named a 43-strong Springboks squad last Saturday for the upcoming Test season that begins with the visit by Wales for a three-game series.
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With the head coach not doing media to accompany his weekend announcement, much speculation was generated since then and it was only Tuesday afternoon when some clarity was finally given on the confusing situation.
Vermeulen, the long-time Springboks No8 who played 80 minutes for Ulster in Cape Town on Saturday, and the equally seasoned Steyn were the two notable squad omissions later that evening and Nienaber has now spoken about the knee operation that the back row will undergo this week and how his conversation went with the utility back who picked up an injury playing Currie Cup recently.
In contrast with that pair’s Springboks squad exclusion, though, Bulls out-half Goosen has stayed with the squad despite his injury as has Reinach, who wasn’t named in the 43 but is still with them at camp in Pretoria. “Let’s start with Johan Goosen,” said Nienaber, addressing the speculation that has ignited since the weekend about injured players who are in the Springboks squad and those who are not.
“He got an injury a while back and he is someone we are looking to cover as a fly-half but he is a guy we have never worked with before. We just thought it was a great opportunity seeing as our camp is in Pretoria that we get him in, to put him into the alignments camps and now in camp so that he can see how we operate, how we work, how information gets distributed.
“That was the thinking about including Johan for these three weeks but when we move on from here and go into the Test matches in Bloemfontein and Cape Town and playing against New Zealand, he will stay with the Bulls and finish his rehab with them and then start the URC next season playing a couple of games with them. If everything goes well and his performance is good, he can join us on the end-of-year tour.
“Duane and Frans got injured while playing for their clubs (Ulster and the Cheetahs respectively),” continued Nienaber, switching to the Springboks situation regarding Vermeulen and Steyn. “Duane will go for a procedure and Frans has done a hamstring, so he is under rehabilitation with his club.
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“We had a good conversation with Frans. He is a player that we will probably pull into the squad during this year but we had an open conversion between us, ‘Do your rehab, make sure that you are 100 per cent right, make sure you are in good physical conditioning and if pick up an injury we will pull you into the squad ASAP’.
“It finished, ‘Don’t be hasty with your injury’. He understood how we see the plan going forward with him and he understands how we think. The moment Frans is ready to go, good to go and is medically fit and there is an opportunity for us to pull him in, we will.
“Duane is going for a procedure this week and has got clearance from his club to do his rehabilitation in South Africa. He will go through the procedure, through the rehab and once he is cleared by his club we can pull him into our squad.
“Then the other one is Cobus. He had an injury a while back, he came for an operation in South Africa and he asked the club [MOntpellier] if it was fine he does his rehab here in South Africa. They agreed to do that so he is currently doing his rehab in South Africa but the same as with Duane, he needs to get clearance from his club after his rehab is completed, he has to fly back to Montpellier, their medical doctors have to check him out and once they clear him we can pull him into our environment.
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“That is a mouthful but I’m pleased there is now clarity in terms of why certain injured guys are with us. The short answer is their clubs gave permission for them to do that and they are doing their rehab in South Africa and then some of the guys that got injured now in the last part of the season are still with their clubs and haven’t had any procedures done on them so they need to go through the whole process and once the club then releases them medically we can pull them into our squad.
“And Frans Steyn, we had a nice conversation, he knows where he stands with us and like I say, he has got to do his rehab and once we need him we will just pull him up if he is in good shape and keeps himself fit,” concluded the Springboks boss.
