Springboks’ pair rested for ten days after minor injuries in RWC opener - Rugby World Cup news
The South African pair consisting of Victor Matfield and Jean de Villiers has been rested for the next ten days to overcome minor injuries they sustained during their Rugby World Cup opener against Wales on Sunday, September 11. The South African team doctor,
Craig Roberts, confirmed the injury reports of these players on September 12 and said that a 10-day rest has been recommended to the players.
De Villiers sustained a rib injury during the first-half of their maiden outgoing of the RWC 2011 in Wellington, whereas Matfield was disrupted by a hamstring problem. South Africa was lucky to grab a nail-biting victory of 17-16 over Wales despite two causalities.
Springboks hardly managed to get away with a win over Wales after a fiery start. Morne Steyn put his side to an early lead after scoring an artistically delivered try in the second minute of the match.
The whole match was played at a snails pace afterward and both sides failed to amuse the crowd in a much anticipated match. The only exciting moment came in the match when Wales took a slight lead of 16-10 and South Africa bounced back with a much needed
try in the 65th minute of the match.
Talking to the reporters about the severity of injuries to their players Matfield and De Villiers, Craig Roberts said that the players have been rested as a precautionary step. South African team doctor said that, “It was a more of a precaution, we didn't
want to make it worse on the field, that's why we made a decision to bring him off. Matfield started feeling his hamstring tightening up, so with a long tournament ahead, we decided to pull him to try to protect his hamstring. He'll also need 10 days or so
to get over that."
He also talked about Bakkies Botha, who missed the clash due to an injury and said that, “He's got an achilles tendon problem. He hasn't responded as well as anticipated. We're still working on it and haven't made decision in terms of how we're going to
deal with it.”
South Africa will take on Namibia on September 22 in Auckland in its next encounter of Rugby World Cup 2011.
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