Springbok star suffers concerning injury
· The South African
The Springboks’ triumphant 45-21 opening win against England at Ellis Park on Saturday ticked many of the necessary boxes, but it was somewhat overshadowed by a worrying knee injury to star loosehead prop Ox Nche.
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Nche made a massive impact early in the match, executing a trademark barnstorming run through the middle of the field that sent the crowd into wild celebrations.
Unfortunately, the powerful front rower was forced to hobble off the field just eight minutes into the encounter, and he was later seen walking around the stadium with a noticeable knee brace, sparking immediate concern of a serious injury.
Following the match, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus delivered a bleak initial prognosis, admitting that his “gut feeling” suggests the injury is serious.
Eben etzebeth (concussion) and Siya Kolisi (hamstring strain) also need to be monitored as the Springboks now head into their next Nations Championship game against Scotland.
Andre Esterhuizen, who was replaced following a blow to the neck in a tackle, is also a doubt for next weekend.
Springboks count injury costs
Even when Erasmus first revealed a 46-man squad for the inaugural Nations Championship, he admitted that the group was likely to see some changes sooner rather than later.
“I know it’s a big squad, it’s 46. But there’s another 15 to 17 guys either injured, or we’re resting them a little bit, or we think they’ll be more suited to play maybe against Scotland or Argentina or New Zealand.
“After our first game, we might send a few guys back to rest and draft a few other guys in.”
Lock problem
Injuries at lock – where there is a list of eight currently sidelined or who were unavailable for the England match – is becoming an increasing challenge.
“I’d like to have given Riley (Norton) a run here but then Ben-Jason (Dixon) comes on and had a really good impact and we could mingle it a bit with guys playing six, seven and eight with Jasper (Wiese) and Cameron (Hanekom) and Marco (van Staden) and, all in all I thought it was an above average performance.”