Rassie Erasmus provides significant Cheslin Kolbe injury update

Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus will be without one of his star players for their fourth Test encounter against the All Blacks, after Cheslin Kolbe left the field in Soweto.

The contest was nine minutes in when Kolbe picked up the injury during a tackle inside their 22 with the All Blacks hot on attack.

The winger was coming off a man-of-the-match performance in Cape Town, where he helped his Springboks side level the series in front of a raucous crowd.

Speaking to media in Johannesburg, Erasmus gave an update on the health of his squad before travelling to Baltimore.

“Cheslin broke his jaw,” the Springboks coach explained.

“Damian Willemse will be ready for next, so will Aphelele Fassi.

“Carlu Sadie, Boan Venter, and Ntuthuko Mchunu will all be staying behind with Cheslin as well as Ben-Jason Dixon, who still has concussion symptoms.”

Herschel Jantjies is now set to travel to Baltimore with the Springboks, providing cover at halfback, with Grant Williams adding extra versatility.

“With Cheslin staying home, Herschel is flying with us. Canan Moodie is now getting fit too, and Grant will cover the wing too.”

Erasmus, who has discussed minutes and workloads of his players throughout Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, said he was worried he got his team selection wrong.

“We have a long-term goal that we want to win the World Cup like all teams want to do, but I felt this game, minutes-wise it was very important.

“At half-time, I worried that we got it wrong because the guys were breathing heavily, but we had a good bench.”

The home side weren’t the only team to pick up a couple of key injuries, with the All Blacks announcing that captain Ardie Savea won’t travel to the USA.

Along with Savea, All Blacks midfielder Quinn Tupaea also left the field with a worrying injury, but Rennie said he was unsure whether he would be available for the fourth Test match next weekend.

“Yes, shoulder injury. Not sure if it’s dislocated, but he certainly won’t be travelling to the States,” Rennie said in his post-match press conference about Savea’s injury.

“Oh, yeah, I think he [Savea] was massive, wasn’t he? But you know, Wallace Sititi came on and played well.”

“The report we heard during the game: MCL. I’m not sure the extent; he wanted to try and get up and run, but yeah, we just ended up making a call.

“So yeah, I’m not sure of the severity and whether that’ll affect him going to America or not,” Rennie said about Tupaea.