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Springboks explain why Pollard, Am and de Jager have all missed out
Jacques Nienaber has discussed his omission of Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am and Lood de Jager from the 33-strong Springboks Rugby World Cup squad. Pollard suffered a calf injury while playing for Leicester last May while Am was injured in the first half of last Saturday’s win for South Africa over Argentina in Buenos Aires. That was a match which de Jager missed due to severe chest problems.
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Pollard and Am haven’t been completely excluded as both were named in a five-strong additional group of players that will travel with the official Springboks RWC squad to Europe for their remaining warm-up matches against Wales in Cardiff and the All Blacks in London.
“Handre’s rehab went well, but he now needs to go through a Test match week and the demands of a Test match week,” explained Nienaber. “He needs to be able to produce on a Saturday and then he has to back it up the next week and the next week without putting him in too early.
“He will be able to start training with us, whereas with Lukhanyo we think it is a two-to-four-week injury. It is still very acute, and we will probably get a better gauge at the end of this week how he is doing.
“We believe they both will have the potential to be fit and ready to go by the Scotland game, maybe the week after that, but they can only come into the World Cup squad if there is an injury or if a player does something to deselect himself.”
Nienaber didn’t elaborate on the chest injury de Jager is struggling with. “People will understand, and it is not my place to elaborate on that. I know what it is, but it is not for me to say.”
The coach acknowledged that it was not ideal that these three 2019 Rugby World Cup winners aren’t in the squad. “It’s not ideal, but I must say, that is the one thing from us as a coaching group. If someone didn’t get injured, there wouldn’t be a Siya (Kolisi) here now. I probably look at it from a positive point of view, injuries are never positive and it is unfortunate.
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“But the next guy must just step in. We always said, Rassie (Erasmus) and myself, that we planned for 2023 since 2018. If you look at the quality and depth of the squad that was built over six years, that is what makes this team selection so difficult.
“Jesse (Kriel) is a straight swap for Lukhano and if you look at the squad, there is a lot of versatility. We can play Canan Moodie at 13, we can play Damian Willemse at 13 if we have to. There are a couple of options.
“Any game you play has an injury risk. You can either play guys and they become battle-hardened or you can wrap in cotton wool. You won’t have injured players, but you will take players into a World Cup where we are playing knock-out rugby from the very first game against Scotland. We still have five weeks left and we will have to work hard every day.
“It is always bad to lose players with World Cup experience, but the rest of the guys have got some game-time and they stepped in. Marvin (Orie) played Italy, England, Australia and the two Argentina games, so he had a lot of game time and could step in for Lood.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments