France has lost four starters for the match as well. Two missing the entire RWC, the other two are expected to play some part in the tournament.
France has lost four starters for the match as well. Two missing the entire RWC, the other two are expected to play some part in the tournament.
If Boks gets an injury at 10, there could be some issues. Willemse is a great rugby player- but he is not a specialist 10.
Pollard will be ready if there is an injury, but he has been out of the game for a while constantly injured.
Pollard has been out for months, he pulled up injured before the match against Saints.
Well as one coach use to say. Your perfect 15 only exist on paper. So to have 5 injuries of 5 rounds of test is normal given rugby is a contact sport.
Most of the top teams have depth. I think Ireland, France, New Zealand and SA are the teams with the most depth. Normally NZ couldn’t figure out who their starting 15 is.
Will be interesting to see how the boks fair with their forward dominated game. Biggest blow would be Etzebeth. Kolisi is another that will impact the teams morale. Pollard has almost become surplus.
So it will be which team will pitch up. The boks have 4 weeks of test in the pool. Romania being the only team the can give players time to rest.
Perhaps limiting the number of games scheduled for international sides and leaving some room to allow for larger squads in case of injuries leading up to a RWC could help.
Not being at full strength due to injuries leading up to the WC is poor planning by the officials or is it intentional.
18,568 posts
Now Jordie Barrett is in doubt with a knee injury. That makes 4 starters for the ABs .that probably won't be available for the game against France. France has at least two of their starters out, Ireland have a front row forward out and so it goes on. I will be glad when the RWC kicks off.