The Springboks’ 26-10 win over the All Blacks in Saturday’s Rugby Championship opener at the Mbombela Stadium came at great cost, with both Kurt-Lee Arendse and Faf de Klerk set to miss this week’s Ellis Park rematch.
De Klerk was knocked out cold in the first minute, while Arendse, who scored the first of the Boks’ two tries, left the field after also having suffered what looked like a concussion five minutes before the end.
The Springboks are yet to confirm the injury status of the two players. But with concussion, it is not expected that they will be back in action this week.
With Arendse also red-carded for the aerial clash with Beauden
Barrett that led to his head blow, he will most certainly miss the second All Blacks Test on Saturday.
And with Cheslin Kolbe already out of action on the right wing because of a jaw fracture, coach Jacques Nienaber says it’s unlikely that they will bring in a specialist No.14 from outside the squad.
Nienaber says: “We will sit with the selectors, but we played Jesse [Kriel] there last year and in 2018 he started at wing against New Zealand.
🗣️ Siya Kolisi praised the support after their record-breaking victory over the All Blacks: "Running out and hearing people screaming like that it drives us as a team" - more here: https://t.co/QcEIgvgspU#StrongerTogether #StrongerForever #RSAvNZL #CastleRugbyChampionship pic.twitter.com/jwWnt4AyJs
— Springboks (@Springboks) August 6, 2022
“We’ve also got Warrick [Gelant] who can play there for us, so we have a couple of options and I’m not sure whether we will go outside the group. “We have lost Kurt-Lee, but will see what happens.”
While Kriel could come in for Arendse, Stormers No.9 Herschel Jantjies is waiting in the wings to come in should De Klerk be ruled out.
Celebrating their win, Bok captain Siya Kolisi is proud of his team, but says the job is not yet done.
He explains: “It [the victory] does feel good, but at the same time the job is not done. We have five more games to go and the most important one is next week.”