Cape Town – You win some, you lose some, the saying goes in sport, and that applies to the Springboks at the moment on the injury front ahead of the November tour to Europe.
Star wing Cheslin Kolbe will make his comeback to rugby after an almost three-month layoff after being named in the Toulon starting line-up at right wing for Saturday’s French Top 14 showdown with Brive at the Stade Mayol (5pm SA time kickoff).
The 28-year-old speedster sustained a broken jaw in the first half of the third Test against Wales at Cape Town Stadium on July 16, and has been out of action since.
Earlier in the year, he had a thumb fracture, while a leg injury during a training session saw him miss the last few matches of last year’s Rugby Championship and the November tour to Europe – and he has featured in just 13 matches for Toulon following his move from Toulouse at the end of the 2020-21 season.
But Toulon announced this week on their social media channels that Kolbe will wear the No 14 jersey against Brive.
On the other side of the equation for Bok coach Jacques Nienaber, though, youngster Canan Moodie will miss the upcoming Tests against Ireland (November 5), France (November 12), Italy (November 19) and England (November 26) due to a hamstring injury he picked up during the United Rugby Championship game against Edinburgh recently.
Bulls coach Jake White, speaking from Scotland on Friday ahead of Saturday’s URC clash against the Glasgow Warriors, said that the 19-year-old won’t be back in action anytime soon.
In addition, Bulls hooker Johan Grobbelaar (ankle) also can’t be considered for the Bok trip.
“Canan, at this stage, looks like he is probably going to be out for about eight weeks,” White said.
“So, he won’t play any part in either the last couple of our games (before the international Test window), and probably won’t be available to tour with the Springboks either.
“That’ll mean that he will hopefully be back at the end of November, when we kickoff the second part of the URC.
“Grobbies has gone in for an operation yesterday on his syndesmosis (ankle), so hopefully that’s between six and eight weeks (out).”
But White had better news for another Bok wing, Sbu Nkosi, who missed out on last week’s win over Connacht with concussion.
“Sbu is going to join us on the weekend, as he has been passed to play, so he will join us for the rest of the tour.”
IOL Sport