Coenie out of Bok tour

Springbok prop Coenie Oosthuizen has been ruled out of the November tour to Ireland, Scotland and Wales after suffering a back injury in the Currie Cup loss to Western Province on the weekend.

Oosthuizen hurt a disc in his back during the game at Newlands on Saturday and while a full diagnosis is still expected, Cheetahs team doctor Ian Morris has said the big prop will be out of action for between 8-12 weeks.

That would mean Oosthuizen would miss the end of year tour, and end a horrible year of injuries for the Bok, especially after he missed two months after sustaining a neck injury against England in June.

“It is a back injury, he’s hurt the disc in his back,” Dr Morris told supersport.com, “We will still get him a specialist opinion but the initial diagnosis is that he should sit out for between 8-12 weeks and therefore would miss the end of year tour with the Springboks.”

Dr Morris said Oosthuizen was “heartbroken” when the news was conveyed to him, but did see the long term picture as well and was determined to get fit for the Vodacom Super Rugby season in 2013.

Asked how the injury affected his neck injury, which Oosthuizen has just recovered from, Dr Morris said it “was clearly still a concern and will be for a large part of his career.

“For that reason he has to be managed carefully and properly in the future,” Dr Morris said.

Oosthuizen has had a disappointing season in terms of injuries, with the neck injury meaning he missed out on most of the Castle Rugby Championship, returning only from the bench in the final game against the All Blacks at Soccer City.

Another Cheetah Springbok, Johan Goosen, was ruled out last week with a medial knee ligament injury, and will also miss the end of year tour.

 The Cheetas key players get injured regulary. Brussouw is out again for another 9 months or something.

 We have a serious issue with props in SA Rugby...

None are delivering and the cupboard appears to be empty....

Cilliers a Springbok...joke of the year.

Arthur John

I am veery worried about Oosthuizen - spinal cord injuries can be career-ending.    

In any event - I think the future Springbok props are most likely to be Malherbe and Kitshof. 

He was rushed back. I would be not surprised if he is hesitant about taking the immense contact in the front row. This kid needs to be rescued from the game. Perhaps if he played flank....but not prop. You can't play front row after a serious neck injury, remember Lukas von Biljon?

Coenie will be fine and there is only one place for him and that is prop. His neck is sorted, he injured his lower back being cleared out by Etzebeth, it had nothing to do with scrumming. A rest till Feb for the S15 and he will be fine. He looked good at 3 against Woodcock - Coenie has the makings of a fantastic prop

Every case is different - if this injury had been neck again, it would have been concerning - its not

Here's a bet.....Coenie won't be playing rugby a year from now. And that would be the right decision. In professIonal football, former greats like Jim McMahon are suing the league. If rugby doesn't protect it's players, that will come.

I hope you are wrong for Coenie will be a massive loss - he has Os written all over him. I reckon he will be ok

Mozart and Saffex

All indications are that Oosthuizen is being treated by the top neurosurgeon in SA - Dr Stefan Joubert.   He will give his opinion as to Oosthuizen's rugby playing career on a professional basis.   It really is worrying that it is a disc problem again - I think it is 50-50 whether Oosthuizen will in fact make a come-back.

Even if he is physiaclly 100% ok - the problem with him as prop may be psychological - like it was in the Van Biljon case.   He may be hessitant to make any contact with the opposition and that could be the case.   It happened on Saturday before he was injured - so that may be the case as well.   

Be it physical or psychological - he may be out of competitive rugby - we will just have to wait and see.   If he is out - it will indeed be a pity.