No surgery for Goosen's troublesome Heel

I remember this is why he was not kicking for goal, or at least his kicking was off and Pienaar took over pole kicking.

From what i recollect he bruised his heel in training between the Dunedin and Pretoria tests.   It did not really have an impact on his general play - but it did impact on his kicking at goal.   He missed four kicks at goal - two in the Australia test and two in the Soweto test - after which the kicking duties was taken over by Pienaar and after Goosen left the field in the Soweto test - by Jantjies.

I am rathr surprised that his issue is repeating itself and that in the time since the injury occurred originally it was not corrected.   It may not have had the professional attention it needed - because it would not have affected anything other than his kicking at goal.   It is high time that the problem be treated properly and I am sure it will be dealt with conclusively asap.

We have some ignorant twits telling us that Goosen failed mentally when he missed those kicks in the NZ test - what crap

There is a problem wth this particular injury - it is never felt in running walking etc and only shows up when the guy tries to kick at goal.   Goosen never kicked at goal since the Soweto test and only recently tried it again and it still bothered him.   I think in dealing with the treatment of the knee injury - the ankle bruise got lost - but the Cheetah doctors should still have tried to find out whether there was anything wrong in that case - since it was bothering Goosen in both the Petoria and Soweto tests before he injured his knee.

He and Jan look to be world class stars in the making and they are not the only ones.

To me this just underlines the importance of developing Lambie as our alternative, or perhaps even best choice, at 10.

If this was in any way a serious injury - I would agree with you in total - but it really was not really of any serious nature.   The article is clear - there is fudndamentally nothing wrong with his ankle - which in fact was not the problem at all..

As far as I can remember - it was a slight problem with the heel footsole underneath the ankle that was uncomfortable when he stepped hard on it whilst kicking at goal.   It never hampered hm in running or walking and only came out when he started to goal kick again after recovering from his knee injury.  He consequently was never looked at again about that minor niggle after his knee injury problem was deat with.  In essence to even mentio the Juan Smith injury in the same league as this problem is eally pushing it - and is an over-reaction to try and prove a point that is not really at issue here.

Goosen was probably too young when he was brought in - but it basically resulted from the total collapse of Morne Steyn as flyhalf in the tests before the Pretoria one.   I do not think that Meyer had any other optiion than to bring him into the squad - beinbg totally blind at the alternative - namely to play Lambie at flyhalf..    Based on his form in Super 15 - which gave him the second highest point average in that competition in 2012  after James O'Connor - he definitely was the best flyhalf on display in Super 15 last year - so he has the talent and only to my mind needed a strengthening of his body to be on top.  He now had the opportunity to do just that and I will watch him again to see how he manahed to improve on last years performance. 

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With all due respect I diid notreally see any brilliance in that display.  He was around and actually was most prominent when he dealt with captaincy issues after Strauss left the field of play.

It would be a serious mistake to select him again as a Springbok.   He is 32 this year and no candidate for the 2015 WC.   We should build up a team with the WC in mind - and should really forget about the so-called golden - oldies.  Their selection now will merely be temporary and delay thhe development of the real top players to be used in 2015. 

You must be kidding.   A player at 34 years of age as a flank forward.  That really is bullshit of the highest order - sorry about the strong language.

The guy has not played ruugby for two years.  He came on for half a game -which I watched on TV twice and I cannot fiind anything that I could shout about in that limited playing time.  Mozart - get it straight - you CANNOT select players on reputation only - neither can you do a Saffex and suggest selections on size and age basis.     

Here are the ages of the Pom loosies in the RWC03 final which they won:

Neill Back 34 years

Richard Hill 32 years

Lawrence Dallaglio 31 years.

Of the three mentiond only Back was 34 years of age.  I otfen saw him playing and his best performances were around 1999.    In the 2004 WC he was not the best loosie around - and in the final he was not performing above average.     

Of the three mentiond only Back was 34 years of age.  I otfen saw him playing and his best performances were around 1999.    In the 2004 WC he was not the best loosie around - and in the final he was not performing above average.     

Dr Stefan Joubert - who are the specialist dealing with rugby players - is a world expert  who was invited to lectuire at Yale University on Surgery of the relevany nature.   There are few that can equal this guy anywhere and I cannot see how a world expert  will help in Coenie's case.

A world expert required for a bruised sole of a rugby player's - that really is a vote of no confidence in any medical doctor in SA.   There is nothing wrong with the player's heel at all.  

Read carefully - Joubert is the one dealing with neck injuries - the top neuro-surgoin in SA.   I had to have a neck fusion op about 9 years ago - and was in absolute agony.  Had to wait 6 weeks for the bugger to return from Yale  where he was on a sabbatical as a visiting professor and went through absolute agony - eventually taking 3 prescription painkillers every hour instead of 1 every 3 hours.   It was he who told me about the Van Biljon case and the operation he had to do on him..    He operates at the Umhlanga Hospital and that is where Oosthuizen went for treatment.

I am not at all concerned about the seriousness as to heel injury.   If a person can walk run and play rugby without any problem and it bothers him only when he steps down very hard with his left foot when kicking it goal - it must of essenee be  a minor problem.   There is no sign whatsoever of any bone fractures or displacements and any other problems that could have resulted in a serious injury.   It is a niggle that was never treated and never ddealt with constructively - everryone knew he had problems with it while kicking at goal in the Pretoria and Soweto tests - but it nver showed up  afterwards until he said he still hs a problem in kicking at goal after starting to practice that component of the game a week ago.  Doubt whether it will persist after treatment.   Incidentally the Meyer knew about the injury before the Pretoria test - but Goosen past the fitness test completely and the only decision taken was that if it bothers him whilst kickig at goal - Pienaar would take over the goalkicking responsibility.     .  

first of all dont u ever sleep??? o_O

secondly, if goosens heel is effecting his goal kicking, would it not also affect his general kicking??? this could be probalmatic for a flyhalf.

i thought meyer rushed goosen in way too early in the Boks to begin with, but while u could say he was desperate with morne going from bland to worse, meyer did have janties there who should have been afforded more oppoortunities to showcase his wares in the Boks jersey.

IMO, there was no difference between janties and goosens performance abr that wallabies test in SA and again i say that test means nothing when u look at who the wallabies had ,missing.

Goosen's problem is not encountered in kicking other than at goal.   I don't think they ever treated it - because it did not really affect his play - oher than goalkicking.  

By the way - I do have odd sleeping hours.  I often enough - especially in summer - have sleeping problems because of heat and humidity - but normally sleeps about 4 hours at night and now that I am not working anymore. about two hours during the day.  Lately for the heat and humidity reason  I sleep on a thin camp mattress on the floor as well   A real sleeping pill for me is watching TV - I fall asleep then and instantly wake up when people swith off the TV.   I have one TV in the lounge, one in my bedroom and one in the office.     For that reason - and because my house is 150 meters from the sea - TV's are on 24 hours per day 

Never slept more than 6 to 7 hours per day in my life (6 hours was more or less the norm)  - so I suppose it is odd to the mind of many people. 

i remember during the IRC thinking that pienaar was doing a lot more of the tactical kicking for the Boks. i thought this was odd seeing as how goosens boot is very educated. i will watch the Bok games again and see just how much general kicking goosen does, cos other than clearnce kicks, it was not as much as is the norm for a flyhalf??? i could be wrong thouigh.

as for ur sleeping patterns, i have a very similar problem in a way, i normally crash for three hours after the gym, then i get up at like 11pm or midnight then stay awake for most of the night. i then crash for another two hours before starting my day again. ive been told its very unhealthy, but for me its just the norm now. i do every two weeks or so do have one day where it all catche sup and i sleep the sleep of the dead lolz, :o)