Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s hopes of a solid scrum for the rest of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship were dealt a massive blow (Please note Dr Mozzzz) with the news that tighthead Frans Malherbe has been ruled out of rugby for the rest of the year.
Malherbe fractured his ankle in Saturday’s narrow win over Argentina in Salta and has returned home to undergo surgery, possibly as soon as Tuesday.
Team doctor Craig Roberts confirmed the injury on arriving back at OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg and told supersport.com that Malherbe’s season is over.
“Unluckily in the last minute of the game his ankle got caught in a ruck and he twisted it. It kind of got caught in the turf and he ended up fracturing his ankle,” Dr Roberts said.
“We took him to hospital after the game. He had some x-rays there and saw a specialist. He has fractured the bone on the outside of his ankle and he will need surgery on that.
“We made the decision to bring him back to South Africa to have the surgery. He will see a specialist in Cape Town today and in all likelihood will end up having surgery tomorrow.”
The Boks are at least thankful that it was a clean break, meaning that surgery should go well and the recovery time should be shorter, but Dr Roberts said that it would effectively rule him out until the middle of November.
“It depends how well the surgery goes, but we’re looking at three months. Effectively that is the year gone for him. I was putting it into the calendar last night and it takes him into the middle of the end of the year tour, so it is the year for him,” he added.
On the positive side (Ca you beleive thsi oak is being serious!!!!), the Boks are looking forward to welcoming back both lock Victor Matfield and utility forward Willem Alberts when the team reassemble later this week. Both players were heavily missed in the two weeks that the Boks struggled against Los Pumas and should they be able to prove their fitness, they will likely be drafted straight back into the side for the next Rugby Championship game against the Wallabies in Perth.(The loose trio is Coetzee, Vermulen and Louw - please Meyer dont get thsi wrong!!! Also leave wee matfiled out of the match 23!!!!!!!!!!!!! )
“We will get feedback from the Bulls and Sharks today. The feedback I’ve got so far is that they are doing well. Both Victor and Willem have been running nicely. We’re confident that they will be ready for Perth but I’ll need to assess them before I make that decision,” Dr Roberts said.
One player who is not likely to return to the Boks soon is Coenie Oosthuizen. The prop whose experiment at tighthead seemed to lose him his Bok place after struggling in the final weeks of Vodacom Super Rugby is still struggling with a foot ligament injury and has not started training since Super Rugby ended.
“Coenie is struggling with a foot injury, he has a ligament injury in his foot. I’m waiting for feedback from the Cheetahs today,” Dr Roberts said.
Malherbe’s replacement is likely to be either Lourens Adriaanse, who has been part of the Bok squad before, or Marcel van der Merwe, who earned his debut against Scotland earlier this year.
What a pity matfiled didnt paly on satruday. We would have lost and he would have been out. A worthwhile price to pay.
Nowif he comes back and we beat the wobblies - man all the wrong conclusions will inevitably be reached.A re we cursed or what!!!! Freak injury to Malherbe when we really needed him fit with jannie need a break.
If I were an Aussie I would be inebriated and more! What madness rules our rugby!!!
