DURBAN – In bad news for the Sharks and the Springboks, Sikhumbuzo Notshe is out of rugby for the rest of this year following surgery to reattach a tendon to his knee cap.
The 28-year-old suffered the injury during the Sharks’ defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria few weeks ago, and while he was subsequently expected to miss the tour of the British and Irish Lions, it now appears that the balance of 2021 is also written off.
That is a blow for the Boks considering they also have a very tough Rugby Championship ahead of them followed by an end-of-year tour, Covid-19 permitting.
“It is a big blow for the player, for us at the Sharks, and I reckon also for the Springboks,” said Sharks coach Sean Everitt today (Saturday). “Notshe was in very good form and in my opinion he was up there pushing Duane Vermeulen. I think they were the form No 8s in the country.”
In better news for all, Everitt confirmed that World Cup final try-scorer Makazole Mapimpi will feature for the Sharks against the Lions in Johannesburg on Friday night in a Rainbow Cup fixture.
“Makazole returned to us from Japan in great physical shape and he is hungry to play, so he will get a run against the Lions.”
Everitt said that 12 of his players had gone to the Springbok training camp last week but not all will play against the Lions as some of the Sharks’ Boks are due to be rested according to the Springbok protocols.
“With so many guys away at the Bok camp, last week was a good opportunity to work with the balance of the squad, because if those 12 are all picked, the guys that were left will, in any case, become our Currie Cup squad,” Everitt said. “The Bok camp was from Monday to Wednesday but we gave those guys Thursday and Friday off because they won’t have any other opportunity to take a break.”