Good news on the injury front!!!

Ex Supersport

The Springboks produced an injury report that could finally start to put a smile on coach Heyneke Meyer’s face ahead of their last two games before this year’s Rugby World Cup.

The report, which produced several helpings of good news, has arrived at precisely the right time with some stalwarts likely to be back for the two matches against Argentina.

However, several others will be in a race against time to prove their fitness, as well as find form before the squad announcement for the Rugby World Cup is made on August 28.

The Boks have the good news that captain Jean de Villiers, scrumhalf Fourie du Preez and flanker Willem Alberts will all be fit and ready to face Argentina in Durban.

The trio are part of a seven-player squad whose fitness will be assessed on Monday as they complete the final phase of their rehabilitation.

There was further good news that Vincent Koch and Warren Whiteley – both who left the field with rib injuries – have recovered and should be fit for selection against Argentina next weekend.

Jan Serfontein (hip and knee), Marcell Coetzee (knee), Pieter-Steph du Toit (knee) and Steven Kitshoff (knee) will also be assessed on Monday with a view to being available for selection against the Pumas.

Frans Steyn is recovering well from a pectoral muscle injury and could be ready to play Argentina in Buenos Aires. Frans Malherbe has a bone bruise in the hip, which he picked up in the Brisbane test. He will consult a specialist in Cape Town and will also be re-assessed next week in Durban.

On the down side, the medical team also confirmed that prop Jannie du Plessis (knee) and Francois Louw (shoulder) will both miss the Argentina test along with longer term injury casualties Victor Matfield and JP Pietersen (who both have hamstring strains).

In addition, the squad announced that Duane Vermeulen and Coenie Oosthuizen “are progressing well with their rehabilitation”. Both players are in a race against time to be fit after neck operations.

“All of these players have worked hard during their rehabilitation and although we still have to put them through a final assessment on Monday after we’ve re-assembled in Durban, I’m hopeful that they should be fit to face Argentina in at least one of the two forthcoming tests,” said Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts.

“We’re continuing to work very hard with Duane and Coenie and at this stage it’s looking very likely that we will have a full complement of players available for selection when the final squad for the Rugby World Cup is named at the end of August.”

Meyer said that the national selectors may have to consider possible cover at tight head if Koch and Malherbe are both ruled out of the tests against Argentina.

“We’ll have a look at Vincent and Frans in Durban and if they are not fit, we may have to bring someone in,” said Meyer.

“It’s wonderful to see a number of players returning from injury and all of them will be considered if they are passed fit by our medical team.

“I’m also very glad Pieter-Steph is back. He was in the selection frame last week but after consultation between our medical team and that of the Cell C Sharks, we decided to stick to the original plan regarding his return to play, which is that he will turn out for his province in an Absa Currie Cup warm-up match on Friday.

“While it’s never ideal to lose experienced players to injury, it provides others with opportunities. We wanted to mix things up a bit in the two tests against Argentina and the next players in line will now have to show they can perform at the highest level before we finalise the Rugby World Cup squad.”

While it is obviously best players like wee matfiled remain injured and far away from the Boks this is good news. Alberts has a great deal to prove.Such  LOW WORK ETHIC!OF great interest is the return of Jean and Fourie Du preez.
When you look therough the list you can see how much the Bok match  will be strengthened by these returning players.Hence the reason the rotund Hansen is having sleepless nights.

 Beeno: this is the third time this article has been posted. But this version is corrupted by some nonsensical babble.
Here are links to the other threads which have some discussion on them:
Thread 1

Thread 2 - no discussion

 Sorry JW but we cant keep all sentences to three word for you.
I trust you did note the contents having read the article 3 times. Your comments seem oblivious of the facts as outlined in this article. Bok have huge injury issues which happily will soon be over. Massive implications for the wee abs who will ceertinly excit the comp not later than the semis.

 One wonders if even a bryce lawrence could save the wee abs!! 

Beeno: Bryce is now an ancient pro-type. One imagines that there have been improvements & I would go so far as to speculate these improvements could be to the advantage of a certain team
All acknowledge the Boks have injuries resulting mainly from poor player management. Even Hansen has said Boks are improving. I am optimistic the Boks will be able to retain their number 2 ranking. The Poms, Ozzies & other teams are not a threat to you are they? One hears they are improving rapidly. For old time sake you have our full support
Good luck with the Argies, I suggest you go for uncontested scrums to avoid further embarrassment. 

 JW
I am not at all sure about the improvement of the teams you mentioned as being a threat to the AB's and the Springboks.  The fact the Springboks lost to the Aussies is really of no significance - there were way too many passengers in the Springbok squad that day  - which will hopefully not be the case in the WC.
Insofar as the POMS are concerned - they did not have that wonderful a record in the 6 Nations - and that is a fact.  They will have a strong team - but will they beat the SH powerhouses?  I do not think so.
The game between the AB's was a seesaw situation - I think the thing that swung the situation was a few injuries and wrong decisions by the Springboks insofar as the bench is concerned.   There is as Hansen said not a big difference between the AB's and the Springboks.
So what is the issue - I give either the Springboks and the AB's a 40% chance of winning the WC - the other teams much less so.    
      

 "The Boks have the good news that captain Jean de Villiers, scrumhalf Fourie du Preez and flanker Willem Alberts will all be fit and ready to face Argentina in Durban."

I doubt very much that these are good news for the boks.
JdV could be fit for training and even for playing club rugby but playing test level is a very diferent story and at his age to get the form to play tests requires several months.
If he's rushed into the starting XV for just 2 matches, it won't be enough for him to get the necesary form and it will cut the developement of the de Allende-Kriel's combo.
Fourie du Preez is IMO another lost case after several years playing the soft japanese rugby. 2 tests before the WC is not enough to get the form for a WC.
And Alberts is far behind players like Burger, Coetzee, J. du Pessis or even J. Kriel for playing at blindside

 ABF
Extremely well summed up.  I have similar doubts as raised by you.   If De Villiers and Du Preez was g ood last year it may gave been possible for them to make it through to the WC squad - but they were not.   Fact is Du Preez was poor and patently unfit.  Alberts is absolutely useless as a loosie and should never have been in the squad at all.  

F du Preez was poor and unfit last year according to Tokkie. Now uniformed posters may be inclined to believe there is a basis for his views. There isn't...he sucked it out of his thumb. Here is the 365 take on his last test against Wales:

9 Fourie du Preez:Slick service and far more inventive from the little general, linked up well with Steyn and kept the Boks going for the full 80.8/10 

 Wonderful quote, but hat was he like the next week - but was the point allocated really justified.   In the tests against the Welsh - the only real difference was a hugely wonderful display by Willie le Roux.  The rest was not as good as given out by the press.  I cannot remember even one case of inventive play by Du Preez in either of the two Welsh tests.  His service to Morne Steyn must have been good - the latter was downright poor in that game.  
But lets get back to the word "inventive".  In what way was he inventive?  There was very little evidence of that.  I would rather look at his stats in that game than the often bumbled ramblings of a journalistic assessment of performance.  As far as I can remember Du Preez was not involved at all in any of the four tries scored on the day and was in no way contributing to the scoring of the tries.  I do not believe the inventive phrase is justified at all - neither is the rating.       
In the next test Du Preez showed zero and was injured because he basically was unfit.   However, this happened a year ago and there was no evidence that he was different from what he was in the 2013 tests - above average in one game and barely average in the game a week later - that happened twice that year.
Anyone believing that Du Preez is going to be of value this year will be on thin ice.  He played very little rugby since June last year - only 9 soft games in Japan -  and got injured in pre-season training in Japan because of deficient fitness.  At 33 years of age he is unlikely to get back to match-fitness and I actually hope he proves me wrong by performing well in the upcoming two tests, because I think Meyer is hell-bent on picking him and it may turn out to be s disastrous selection for the team.   In his case going in blind into the WC could have serious detrimental effects on the team.                     

SHdu Preez0/102/63/7290010 3/10/000/0SHdu Preez0/106/95/10190023 6/10/010/0

 

There you go Tokkie.... du Preez got an assist in both Welsh tests. So much for your memory of him not being involved "at all in any of the four tries".   

 Thanks Mozart
But I could not remember what those "assists" means - did he merely give the final pass or off-load before the try was scored or did he do something more?  The games in fact showed other than the try-assists - nothing of any real value.  His tackling in the first game was under-par - a 25% missed tackle ratio.  His ball carries was in both cases insignificant and there was no line breaks, no defenders beaten.  His possession losses in the second game and penalty given away were downright poor.
If he is to be an automatic selection in the WC squad on those grounds he could be a disaster.  His lack of game time over a period of more than 4 months and his pre-season injury in Japan are not good signs at all.
Just a question - Du Preez was injured in the second test - at what time did the injury occur?  Please also provide the website reference where you find the stats - I struggle to get stats from previous years tests and it may help if you provide me with that reference.