No major injury worries for Springboks

The Springboks expect to have a fully fit squad to select from when they name their team to face England in London.

Nov 13, 2024 - 03:00

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The Springboks travelled from Edinburgh to London on Monday and started Tuesday off with a gym session and an afternoon field training session to kick-start their preparations for Saturday’s Test.

Springbok assistant coach Tony Brown, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, and team doctor Jerome Mampane fronted the media on Tuesday, with the latter confirming that they had come through the game against Scotland largely ‘unscathed’ from an injury perspective.

After the game, footage showed Siya Kolisi had sustained a heavy knock to the face, but all indications suggest that he will be available for selection as the Springboks return to full strength for the clash against England.

Rassie Erasmus will only announce his match-day squad for the match on Thursday but asked if the team selection was planned in advance with a short training week and several star players sitting out of the team’s 32-15 victory against Scotland, assistant coach Tony Brown said the Bok coach “always has an overall plan in mind”.

“It’s always tough with a short turnaround because you lose a training day, so the players need to adapt,” said Brown.

“That said, we are doing our best to ensure that they are fresh physically and mentally for the match.”

Talking about what the short week requires from a medical perspective, Mampane said: “We have changed our programme this week, but there are still targets the coaches want to achieve, and everyone has planned things in such a way to ensure that the players are as fresh as possible in each contest.”

The match kicks off at 17:40 (19:40 SA time) on Saturday and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

Several World Cup stars were kept on ice last week, but the likes of Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Cheslin Kolbe, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel and Kurt-Lee Arendse are all expected to now return to the starting line-up for this Saturday’s game against England.

HERE IS HOW THE SPRINGBOKS ARE LIKELY TO LINE UP AGAINST ENGLAND:

South Africa: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Lous, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Elrigh Louw, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Manie Libbok.