Johannesburg - “South Africa’s Super Rugby franchises have damaged the Springbok team going into the Rugby Championship and left the national team’s World Cup aspirations crippled after failing to adhere to an agreement to rest their Springbok players during this year’s Super Rugby competition.”
That was the frank view of Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts yesterday as he went through an endless list of the walking wounded Springboks.
There had been a standing agreement from the beginning of the Super Rugby season that certain Springboks would be rested, however the Sharks, Bulls and Stormers defied the agreement.
Roberts didn’t mince his words as he lay much of the blame on the franchises that refused to rest players which ultimately led to the high injury toll.
“There is a reason why we asked the guys to be rested after five weeks. Once you play a certain number of consecutive games your risk for injury increases and that’s why it wasn’t a number that we sucked out of our thumb.
“Unfortunately some of the franchises didn’t comply and we had players that played more than five games and in the next game they got injured. That is what we are trying to prevent,” Roberts said.
At the top of the team doctor’s list is Cheetahs prop Coenie Oosthuizen whose World Cup dreams lie in ruin after he underwent a neck operation yesterday.
“Coenie has been struggling with a disc protruding in his neck and pressing on the nerve. We were hoping it would resolve itself spontaneously as they sometimes do but it didn’t so we had to make the decision to have surgery which gives him the best chance long-term for his career and it also gives him a window of opportunity to potentially be available for the World Cup. He will definitely be out of the Rugby Championship.”
Roberts has been further frustrated by the freak training ground accident to scrumhalf Fourie du Preez’s knee which has effectively ended the player’s chances of playing in the Rugby Championship, although he is expected to recover in time for the World Cup.
The veteran World Cup winning scrumhalf, Du Preez sustained a medial collateral ligament injury which is expected to keep him out of action for up to eight weeks.
The Star