Johannesburg – Springboks Victor Matfield and Marcell Coetzee are doubtful starters for the Rugby Championship clash against New Zealand at Ellis Park, on Saturday.
Team doctor Craig Roberts said on Monday both players will go for scans and then a final decision will be made about their availability.
“These are the two main injury concerns we have from the weekend. The first one is Victor Matfied who hurt his hamstring in the game (in Brisbane),” said Roberts.
“We’re going to reassess him today and have some scans. Then we will have a better picture of where he is in terms of availability for this weekend. At this stage he is doubtful, but we’ll only make that call late in the week once he’s had those scans.”
Coetzee limped off during second-half play with what appeared to be a serious knee injury. Roberts said the player had not sustained any damage to the ligaments.
“Marcell Coetzee took quite a big knock to his knee but thankfully it looks like all his ligaments are intact.
“He will also be reassessed today. We’ll do more scans to get a clearer picture of where we are with him. It looks more like a bad contusion to the muscle in his quad.
“He’s also doubtful for this weekend, but again we’ll only make a decision later in the week based on the scans.”
Among the minor injuries, Francois Louw with a cut to his cheek and Jannie du Plessis with a possible concussion should be available for the weekend clash, according to Roberts.
“Francois Louw had a few lacerations to his cheek. He had to come off as a blood injury. He’s fine at the moment. He came back on and finished the game. He’ll be alright for the weekend.
“The other concern is Jannie du Plessis. We were concerned he had a possible concussion, so it was good that we could use the head injury assessment to get him off the field.
“It was deemed to not be a concussion and that’s why he was able to return to play early in the second half. We brought him off because he had a few symptoms I wasn’t happy with, but it was just a precaution. He’s looking good at the moment.”
Jean de Villiers played a full hour for a Western Province XV on the weekend, and Roberts said management were pleased with his progress.
“Jean played 60 minutes, and the feedback I got was that it went really well. We’ll see him tomorrow (Tuesday) and we’ll unpack exactly how it went.”
Roberts also confirmed that although De Villiers had come through that match unscathed, it was never the plan to play the Springbok captain in either of the Springboks first two Rugby Championship matches.
“The plan was for Jean never to play these two games, but situations might change but that’s up to the coach and Jean’s progress.” - ANA