AG KNEE

SPRINGBOK Player of the Year Cheslin Kolbe seems to be an early doubt for South Africa’s two upcoming Rugby Championship Test matches against Australia next month.

The Boks face the Wallabies on 16 August at Ellis Park and on 23 August at Cape Town Stadium.

SA returned to the training field this week to prepare for the start of the defence of their Rugby Championship title. However, coach Rassie Erasmus revealed that Kolbe will sit out the first week of training because of a knee injury.

The wing did not feature in the Boks’ final two games against Italy and Georgia of the July earlier this month.

Rookie Edwill van der Merwe took over in the No.14 jersey and scored a vrag tries to cement a spot in the Boks’ Rugby Championship squad.  

Of Kolbe and another top performer against Italy and Georgia, Canan Moodie, the only injury concerns in the squad, Erasmus wysed: “Canan has got a bit of a hand issue that might be cleared up on Monday, and the other one was Cheslin, who [has] a bit of a knee [problem].

“In the squad with us currently, there are no real big injury concerns... Canan was just a bit of a hand infection and he did the scans and everything…  Canan is already back training with us,” before Erasmus added that Kolbe will only start training with the team next week.    

Meanwhile, Erasmus expects two tough encounters against the Wallabies, who are still smarting from a series defeat to the British & Irish Lions, after last week’s 29-26 loss at the MCG.

And of the controversial loss, after referee Andrea Piardi ruled out foul play for Jac Morgan’s neck charge on Carlo Tizzano in the build-up to the Lions’ winning try, Erasmus said: “We [management team] predicted some scores between us… I had Australia by four points, so I lost our internal [wager] on that.

“That was a tough decision, but World Rugby has said it was the right decision.”