Double injury blow for Sharks

Young lock Stephan Lewies is set to be ruled out of action for an extended period, while influential centre Frans Steyn won't feature again this Super Rugby season. Photo by: Steve Haag/Gallo Images

Young lock Stephan Lewies is set to be ruled out of action for an extended period, while influential centre Frans Steyn won't feature again this Super Rugby season. Photo by: Steve Haag/Gallo Images

Published May 26, 2015

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In another couple of unfortunate injury blows for the Sharks, young lock Stephan Lewies is set to be ruled out of action for an extended period, while influential centre Frans Steyn won't feature again this Super Rugby season.

Lewies suffered a serious knee injury during the first half of last Friday’s clash against the Reds, which is expected to require surgery and will keep the talented 23-year-old on the sidelines for a lengthy period.

It’s a bitter blow for the youngster, who only recently returned to Super Rugby action after missing most of the season as the result of off-season shoulder and knee surgeries.

He will now need to begin the long road to recovery once again, although the exact length of his unavailability will become clearer once the results of his scan are revealed.

Similarly, yesterday afternoon the Sharks were awaiting the details of the scan to the pectoral muscle that Steyn injured last Friday, but the 28-year-old is likely to be sidelined for several weeks.

It’s extremely unfortunate as word has it that the Boks were becoming increasingly interested in getting Steyn back involved in the national set-up, with the mercurial midfielder having rediscovered some impressive form since recently returning from a suspension for a tip tackle.

The Sharks have just two more games remaining in Super Rugby, against the Rebels this Friday and then the Stormers on June 13, and so they will be desperately disappointed that Lewies and Steyn won’t be available for these encounters.

In Lewies’s absence, Mouritz Botha is likely to take over at No 4, with Andre Esterhuizen the obvious replacement for Steyn at inside centre.

As it is, the coastal side are already without injured Springboks Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie, while Tera Mtembu also hurt his knee during a club game this past weekend.

Willem Alberts, Renaldo Bothma and Dale Chadwick are also nursing injury niggles from last Friday’s final tour game, and they will be closely monitored this week.

However, the Sharks should be able to call on at least one returning Bok, with Ryan Kankowski having joined the team in training yesterday, while Odwa Ndungane also looks to have overcome the ailment that kept him out of last Friday’s game.

With so many players carrying various niggles, the Sharks will be desperately looking forward to next week’s bye, but they will first be looking to build on last Friday’s much-needed victory that ended a six-match losing streak.

“That win was great for us purely from the fact that the guys have been putting the effort in week to week and maybe not getting the reward they deserved,” assistant coach Sean Everitt commented yesterday. “From that point of view, a positive result always helps; it takes off a bit of pressure for a couple of days at least. They will know within themselves that they are improving and are capable of getting results.”

The backline coach said he was particularly pleased with the improvement that had been displayed on attack over the last few weeks of tour.

“I think the number of unforced errors have diminished over the last four weeks which means you get more continuity. The guys have enjoyed playing with the ball in hand a little bit more and I think Lionel Cronje has played well over the last few weeks. He certainly inspired our attack and we are very happy as far as that is concerned.

“Our game management against the Reds this past weekend was the best it’s been over the last few weeks as well,” Everitt added. “We kicked at the right times, we ran the ball at the right times and when we kicked we were able to find space behind, which put the Reds under pressure. We are getting better every week as a group and it’s not easy with the number of changes we’ve had to make week to week with injuries. But we have to march forward and be positive.”

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