The Springboks will face Los Pumas next week without two key players, as Rassie Erasmus revealed the makeup of his squad for the trip to Argentina.
Skipper Siya Kolisi and enforcer Eben Etzebeth missed the start of the Nations Championship due to injury, but are among 44 men gathered in Joburg ahead of the Buenos Aires Test next Saturday.
Other returning players from injury like Handre Pollard, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie, Lood de Jager, André Esterhuizen and Morné van den Berg are also included, while prop Ntuthuko Mchunu was a late call-up on Monday.
Speaking in a Bok conference on Tuesday, Erasmus said that World Cup winners Franco Mostert and Ox Nché will not be available for the one-off Test.
Nché hurt his knee against England on 4 July, while Mostert (ankle) hasn’t played since the season-opening win over the Barbarians more than a months ago.
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“It’s only Ox and Franco Mostert that’s not available for next week’s game,” he said. “Apart from that, everybody – Ethan, Canan Sacha, Eben, Lood, Morné – everybody’s ready.”
On Kolisi (hamstring) and Etzebeth (concussion) lined up to face the Argentinians, who named a 34-man squad for next week’s encounter, Erasmus added: “Siya could have returned a week earlier [to face Wales], but we wanted to make sure; a hamstring is a difficult thing.
“Same with a guy like Handre, Eben’s concussion, Lood’s injury, Sasha’s timing on this.
“The game is a good time for us. You will quickly see who is ready two weeks after that match to play against New Zealand, and obviously to beat Argentina.”
Erasmus on Saturday is set to name a 26-man squad to board the plane for South America, with 15 to 16 Boks expected to remain in the Republic in preparation for the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the All Blacks.
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“We just want to see how we get to this week; we’ve had one or two guys that have flu, which is manageable,” the Bok boss said.
“Sacha came through his first training with us today. We’re trying to keep guys here that have played enough URC, and played enough with us in the first three Tests.
“We’re taking 26 guys across, which at the end of the week, we’re quite sure that none has an injury or a niggle.
“Then maybe we release, say Vusi [Moyo] to the Sharks, get Ntuks in because Ox is not under 100 percent ready, or release a Ntuks to play against the All Blacks, give us some feedback.
“Most of the guys who played a lot of rugby will stay here, and then some guys who can’t play in Argentina yet, like Ox and Franco, will stay behind, and then the guys who need some game time – you can do the math – will go over to Argentina.”
Photo: Steve Haag/Getty Images
The post Bok champs ruled out for Pumas clash appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
The Springboks will face Los Pumas next week without two key players, as Rassie Erasmus revealed the makeup of his squad for the trip to Argentina.
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