Springboks injury vows continue as they lose Johann Muller before encounter against Fiji – Rugby
South African Rugby Union (SARU) has announced a revised 22–man squad for their upcoming 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWCE) encounter against Fiji. SARU were forced to make a change in their announced match day team, following the omission for their second choice
lock, Johann Muller, from the squad due to the injury.
SARU has announced Francois Louw as a replacement of the Muller on Friday, September 16. The decision was taken after the Springboks medical team assessed Muller’s fitness. In the statement released on SARU’s official website, it was confirmed that the decision
to drop Muller was taken to give second row forward more resting time and to avoid aggravating the injury.
Muller was struggling with a hamstring injury and he was given some additional time to recover for Saturday’s crunch Pool D game against the Flying Fijians. The defending champions will take on Fiji at Westpac Stadium, Wellington on Saturday, September 17.
Bath Rugby flanker Louw will start the match from the bench. He will fill the spot vacated by Muller’s omission from the match day squad.
With respect to the second row cover, Springboks head coach, Peter de Villiers, has confirmed that the Natal Sharks’ Willem Alberts will fill the role of the second choice lock or cover in the match day 22 squad.
De Villiers added that keeping in view the fact that lots of players are either struggling with injuries or are recovering from injuries, he was mentally prepared to face such a situations. He added, “It’s not an ideal situation, but that’s tournament rugby.
We knew this was a possibility from earlier in the week so we have made our plans.”
Commenting on dropping Muller, De Villiers re-affirmed that keeping in view the length of the tournament and considering the fact that he is an important player for the team’s effort in their title defence, he has decided against taking a risk with Muller’s
hamstring injury. He expressed his hope that the layoff time will help the lock recover from the injury.
The Springboks revised squad for their Saturday’s encounter against the Fiji consists of:
Starting XV: 15 Pat Lambie (KwaZulu-Natal) - 7 caps, 14 JP Pietersen (KwaZulu-Natal) – 39, 13 Jaque Fourie (Western Province) – 65, 12 Frans Steyn (Racing Metro, France) – 44, 11 Odwa Ndungane (KwaZulu-Natal) – 8, 10 Morné Steyn (Blue Bulls)
– 30, 9 Fourie du Preez (Blue Bulls) – 58, 8 Pierre Spies (Blue Bulls) – 43, 7 Schalk Burger (Western Province) – 64, 6 Heinrich Brüssow (Free State Cheetahs) – 16, 5 Danie Rossouw (Blue Bulls) – 59, 4 Bakkies Botha (Blue Bulls) – 74, 3 Jannie du Plessis (KwaZulu-Natal)
– 27, 2 John Smit (captain, KwaZulu-Natal) – 107, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp (Blue Bulls) – 34.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis (KwaZulu-Natal) – 39, 17 Tendai Mtawarira (KwaZulu-Natal) – 29, 18 Francois Louw (Bath, England) – 7, 19 Willem Alberts (KwaZulu-Natal) – 5, 20 Francois Hougaard (Blue Bulls) – 11, 21 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster,
N Ireland) – 49, 22 Juan de Jongh (Western Province) – 8.
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