The Springboks’ flyhalf curse has struck again, with Damian Willemse suffering what looked like a concussion in their 36-20 Rugby Championship win over Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
Willemse left the field in the 65th minute after being knocked out cold following a tackle attempt and was replaced by Frans Steyn, who then finished the match as first receiver.
But with Handre Pollard expected to be sidelined until the end of the year because of a knee injury and Elton Jantjies having been released from the squad in the build-up to the Test, the Springboks arrived back in South Africa early this morning without a fit specialist No.10 in their squad.
With the concussion protocols being strict, it is unlikely that Willemse will play in the final match of the tournament against Argentina in Durban on Saturday.
Nienaber, however, has not yet written off the idea and said after the match on Saturday: “To be honest, I haven’t spoken to the doctor yet. I know he came off, but I’m not 100 percent sure what it was.”
🗣️ Jacques Nienaber on win over Pumas: "I must take my hat off to the players for keeping such calm heads toward the end of the game" - more here: https://t.co/7SxSnSJbHz#StrongerTogether #StrongerForever #ARGvRSA #CastleRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/jE1GBfLH6I
— Springboks (@Springboks) September 18, 2022
Jantjies seems to be the obvious candidate to return after the off-field drama he went through last week.
We should find out what the Boks’ next step will be today, with Nienaber adding: “In terms of who we will bring back into the squad - that will only happen once we do assessments of where we are from an injury point of view. Then we will make a decision.
“We will announce the team and the squad on Monday, only after we got an idea of what happened on the injury front.”
The Boks arrived back in SA on Monday morning and have every chance of winning the Rugby Championship on Saturday, currently being level on points with New Zealand at the top but with an inferior points difference.
dudley.carstens@inl.co.za