"The Springboks will be without Jannie du Plessis and Francois Louw when they face Argentina in Durban next Saturday, but could have Jean de Villiers, Fourie du Preez and Willem Alberts back.
The Bok medical team is also optimistic of delivering a fully fit squad to the selectors for the Rugby World Cup.
De Villiers, Du Preez and Alberts are three of seven players whose fitness will be assessed on Monday as they complete the final phase of rehabilitation, while players such as Duane Vermeulen and Coenie Oosthuizen are progressing well with their rehabilitation.
Although Du Plessis (knee) and Louw (rotator cuff), along with Victor Matfield and JP Pietersen (both hamstring injuries), will miss both Tests against the Pumas, none of these injuries will put their RWC participation at risk. Saturday’s other injury victims,
Vincent Koch and Warren Whiteley (rib cartilages) should be fit and available for selection 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 to 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 his 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.
“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 tighthead 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 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 a 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.”
There are a serious problem with the possible return of Alberts and also question marks about Fourie du Preez and Jean de Villiers.
Alberts has been utterly useless for years now and the question is what is he doing in the Springbok squad. He had three matches since June 2014 and in all three was atrocious. A disaster if he ever makes the WC squad.
Fourie du Preez should get some game time - he has not played a single match from March 2015 and in the period June to March he had 9 matches. When he returned to rugby in June 2014 he was clearly not fit and he lasted exactly one and a half-match before he was injured. That after he was short in fitness in 2013 already when h could not play successfully in succeeding weeks. At 33 what is he going to be now? I think there is about a 5% chance of him being match-fit.
Jean de Villiers will present as much selection problems as was stated in another article. Is he going to slot in at 12 or 13? Will he be good enough to improve on the top class performances of the two incumbents? My guess is he will be given bench selection for probably both Argentina tests.
Matfield missing both Argentina tests is no surprise. He is so useless as a lock, any further games before the WC will just expose further how really useless he is. The great saboteur of the Tight 5 will not be missed against Argentina.
I think that Du Toit will replace Flippie on the Springbok bench against Argentina - Flippie was utterly useless on Saturday.
