The atmosphere in the Springboks camp was held by four key players who were injured separately during the ongoing preparations for the Nations Championship which has become history and it was revealed with a 45-21 win over England on Saturday, at the 10Bet Ellis Park Stadium, in Johannesburg.
The captain of this national team, Siya Kolisi and his deputy, Eben Etzebeth, did not start the England match due to different injuries.
This happened when Andre Esterhuizen, one of the few South African players who had a good season in the United Rugby Championship (URC) where he represented the Hollywoodbets Sharks, was sent off after he had already hit his head.
While the game was going on, another injury struck Ox Nche. This makes the recovery of these four players as the team of Rassie Erasmus is represented by the second game of this competition against Scotland on Saturday, at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria.
After the match, Erasmus confirmed that Kolisi pulled a muscle last Friday, while Etzebeth hit his head badly during training.
“We didn’t expect this injury to the key players, which makes it difficult to plan for Scotland before fully knowing whether we will be able to use them this weekend or not,” said Erasmus in the media.
“It’s hard to guess about those who hit the head, but it looks like Kolisi won’t recover during our next game against Scotland.
“It’s not nice to be told by the players, but I’m happy with the way we started the competition when our plans were already messed up.”
Although these players are bad, there are some good ones since Franco Mostert, who was injured, will be ready to play next Saturday.
Before the boys’ match between Erasmus and England at Loftus, the female Springboks defeated the United States of America (USA) 34-21 in the first test between these countries.