SOUTH AFRICA DUO Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am have been ruled out of Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with Australia after both suffered knee injuries in Adelaide last weekend.
While the pair will now return to their respective clubs for further medical assessment, there is good news for the Springboks after it was confirmed that Elton Jantjies (hand) and Pieter-Steph du Toit (knee) will remain in camp as they should recover to play a part in the final two fixtures of the campaign.
South Africa coach Jacques Nienaber says reinforcements will only be added if absolutely necessary, as he threw down the gauntlet to those already on the fringes to stake a claim.
“It’s always unfortunate to lose players in a squad, but this opens the door for other players to step in and showcase what they can do in those positions,” said Nienaber.
“We will now have 32 players in camp and with Elton expected to recover for the matches against Argentina and players such as Andre (Esterhuizen) and Jesse (Kriel) and Frans (Steyn) all being capable centres, we are well covered.
“Our plan from the outset of the season was to give most of the players in our expanded squad game time as we build towards the Rugby World Cup, and this involved rotating a few players, so we’ll use this opportunity to build our depth.”
