Buenos Aires - Springbok coach Jake White arrived here after the flight across the Atlantic on Sunday with a very different squad to the one that he would have envisaged taking on this overseas tour when the Tri-Nations season came to an end.
Fourie du Preez's 11th hour withdrawal from the tour with a groin injury meant that five players who were part of the 28-man squad announced 10 days ago have had to pull out.
And this was on top of the non-availability of key players such as Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Enrico Januarie and Gurthro Steenkamp before the squad was even selected.
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"We now have about 10 of our top guys out, and obviously we are hoping we don't have any more injuries now that the tour is finally underway," said White after his squad's arrival in the Argentinian capital after the nine-and-a-half-hour flight from Cape Town.
| 'Andre is 100 percent ready' |
"But then the injuries were largely expected, they were to some extent anticipated. The medical staff have been warning me that a lot of guys have been running on empty. We must just hope we don't get any more as we are running thin as it is. At the moment it is not too much of a problem, but if there are more injuries it will be."
White has elected not to replace Du Preez in the squad, which means the number of players on tour stands at the moment on 27. Utility backs Meyer Bosman and Brent Russell were both added to the group at the end of last week, and either of them could be used as a stand-in for Andre Pretorius should the first-choice pivot be injured.
The good news, though, is that Pretorius is running again and took a full part in the last training session before the Springboks left Cape Town.
"Andre is 100 percent ready, the medical staff have given him the all-clear," said White.
The coach is hopeful that the number of injuries may have a silver-lining in that it offers an opportunity for replacement players to step up to the plate.
Earlier this year players like Januarie and Lawrence Sephaka made full use of opportunities White offered them when he drew them in from outside the first choice group, and he reckons .
"I always relate the story of how, in one of the first Tests I was involved in with the Springboks, we were in France and everyone got very concerned when Justin Swart, the first-choice fullback, was forced out. Into his place came one Percy Montgomery, and here he is on yet another tour with the Boks eight years and 70 Tests later."
It appears Bosman is a player that White has high hopes for. Just 20 years old, the Cheetahs player has leapfrogged over the likes of Morne Steyn and Willem de Waal in White's pecking order at flyhalf.
Meanwhile, White is preparing for a tough game at the weekend. The Argentinian team selected at the weekend is a powerful one and is a markedly stronger combination than the one that faced the Boks at the end of last year's tour.
Then Pumas were denuded of their strength by the French clubs, who chose not to release their players for the match as it fell outside of the IRB international window.
- This article was originally published on page 18 of Daily News on October 31, 2005
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