Injury update is sweet and sour for Bok No 8s

While Rassie Erasmus is optimistic about Jasper Wiese’s chances of facing the Barbarians, another Bok No 8 has been ruled out. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.

The hard-running No 8 suffered a neck injury in April while playing for Japanese club Urayasu D-Rocks and was in doubt for the Boks’ season opener at Cape Town Stadium on 28 June, and the Tests against Italy and Georgia in July.

However, the 29-year-old has made a quicker than expected recovery.

“Jasper is really doing well with his injury [rehabilitation] and we think he might be available for the Barbarians game,” Erasmus told the media on Thursday.

The Bok coach said Sharks scrumhalf Grant Williams, who missed the URC playoffs because of a neck injury, was also close to full fitness, and would be back, at the latest, for the Georgia Test in Nelspruit on 19 July.

But Juarno Augustus will have to wait a bit longer to make his Springbok debut as the No 8 has not been medically cleared by Northampton Saints ahead of his move to Ulster.

Erasmus said the Baa-Baas match was difficult to plan for.

“I’ve coached the Barbarians and a lot of our players have played for them. Their setup is ‘shackles off’ and to play attacking rugby without worrying about the consequences. They get together on a Sunday [before a game] so there’s not a lot of analysis we can do on them, so I guess we’ll focus a lot on ourselves for that game.

“It will be an opportunity for some of our players, like those who were in Japan. I don’t think there will be a lot of Bulls players in that game just because they will only join us next Tuesday [after playing in the URC final this Saturday]. So some of the Bulls players will only get one training session next week and then we’re in the Barbarians week. There will only be Bulls players where it’s really needed; it’s not a Test match so guys won’t lose a Test cap.

“We can also use the match to get a feel for the guys who haven’t played for the Springboks yet, but also make sure that the team is good enough so we don’t get a pak slae [beating] in our first match from a team playing without pressure.”

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The Boks are set to play 15 Tests in 2025 (with two yet to be confirmed) and Erasmus was clear about what he hopes to achieve with the 2027 World Cup in mind.

“We want to try to win all our games, but we’re not going to only use 25 or 27 players this year. The plan is to really broaden not just our squad depth but also experience and not to just give guys one or two caps. So that when we get to the next World Cup, we hopefully don’t have a lot of players under 15 caps. That would be ideal.”

Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images