Johannesburg – The Springboks have been dealt a heavy blow ahead of their Rugby Championship opener against Argentina in Nelspruit on Saturday as hard man Duane Vermeulen is likely to miss the entire competition due to a knee injury sustained while playing for his French club Toulon on Friday.
The injury will see Vermeulen go under the knife this week meaning that he will be out of action for a while and is likely not to feature for the Springboks until the end of the year.
But as much as his absence will be disruptive to Allister Coetzee’s plans, especially for the away leg of the competition, it now opens the door for Warren Whiteley to take his place at the back of the scrum.
Coetzee had been sitting with a delicate selection poser at eighthman with Vermeulen his first choice starter even though he was not convincing during the June series against the Irish while Whiteley has been the in-form No?8 and led his team to the Super Rugby final.
There have been growing calls for Whiteley to be elevated to the starting line-up (of the Springboks) ahead of Vermeulen and now the Lions skipper will finally get an extended run in the position.
At the same time, the door is wide open for Coetzee to select a new number seven which is likely to be Sikhumbuzo Notshe with the incumbent Siya Kolisi also ruled out due to injury.
Notshe was one of the few shining lights for the Stormers in Super Rugby and enhanced his reputation even further with a strong performance for the SA A side in their two-match series against the England Saxons in June.
With Notshe likely to get the nod and make his Test debut this week, Coetzee also has a selection headache at openside flank with growing calls for Jaco Kriel to start ahead of Francois Louw.
While Louw would have not done himself much good to warrant a starting berth after an indifferent series against Ireland, Coetzee might just be pressed to continue with him for his experience and leadership qualities in the absence of Vermeulen.
Coetzee’s selection dilemmas don’t only end with the forwards and there will be a battle for starting berths at inside centre and fullback.
Damian de Allende may be the incumbent man at No?12 but he is yet to produce the same performances that made his elevation to the national team a no brainer and he will be under pressure to hold onto his place in the team with Juan de Jongh returning to the fray.
De Jongh, along with Francois Hougaard, will join the Springbok squad today in Johannesburg after doing duty with the Blitzbokke at the Rio Olympics where they won bronze.
The Stormers captain, De Jongh, will be a contender for a return to the team after Coetzee hauled him from the wilderness since being overlooked by the previous coach, Heyneke Meyer, for three long years.
If De Jongh is to make a return to the starting line-up it might not be on Saturday. But Coetzee will in all probability consider him for the return match against Argentina in Salta a week later.
Coetzee would have also thought long and hard about who will succeed Willie le Roux at fullback between Johan Goosen and Jesse Kriel and the scales are heavily weighed in Goosen’s favour with the former Cheetahs utility back coming in for a lot of praise last week.