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Rugby:South Africa will travel to Dublin this week without experienced flanker Schalk Burger and rookie centre Juan de Jongh after both were ruled out of their tour, which begins at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Scans this morning revealed injuries sustained during Saturday’s Currie Cup final were worse than initially feared.
Six-times capped de Jongh suffered a hairline fracture to his left ankle, while Burger, a 63 game veteran, has a broken rib. The backrow scored on his last visit to Ireland at Croke Park and was given a frosty reception by the home crowd, having gouged Luke Fitzgerald during the 2009 Lions Tour.
Centre Adrian Jacobs, who was added to the squad as a precautionary measure yesterday when it was discovered that another midfielder, Jean de Villiers, had a groin problem, is now named as a replacement. The latter took no part in either of the two field sessions earlier today but is expected to travel.
Burger’s place goes to the Bulls forward Deon Stegmann, bringing the number of uncapped players to seven, while another player from the Pretoria franchise, full-back Zane Kirchner, has also been added to the 30-man list following the withdrawal of scrum-half Ricky Januarie.
The world champions begin their tour with a clash against the Irish in Dublin on Saturday, and coach Peter de Villiers said: “It’s a blow to lose players but we’ve rolled with the punch and already moved on.
“We trained without them this morning and we already had contingency plans in mind which we’ve begun to put into operation.
“It’s not an ideal situation but we’ve all got on with our jobs and are focused only on the players that we have in camp.”
Flanker Willem Alberts (calf), hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle (flu) also sat out training today and the spate of injuries means the team announcement for the Test at the Aviva Stadium has now been delayed until Thursday.
“We’ll give the players some more time in rehab before we confirm the team," said the coach. “We have the line-up in mind but want to make sure everyone’s okay before making the announcement.”
The latest withdrawals take to 13 the number of senior players who have been forced out of the tour by injury.
The others that are unfit are captain John Smit, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier, Andries Bekker, Fourie du Preez, Heinrich Brussow, JP Pietersen, Gurthro Steenkamp, Butch James and BJ Botha.