Ox out, Kitshoff in as Springboks call up Steenekamp

The Springboks have suffered a setback with the news that Ox Nche has hurt his pectoral muscle and been ruled out of Saturday’s Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies in Pretoria.

Nche injured the muscle in training on Tuesday and will be replaced in the Bok starting team by Steven Kitshoff.

Out of the Rugby Championship

Nche is expected to be out of action for several weeks, which has ruled him out of the southern hemisphere showpiece.

As a result, Kitshoff was withdrawn at the last minute on Tuesday from the early travelling squad to Auckland for next week’s clash against the All Blacks and drafted directly into the starting line-up for the Wallabies encounter at Loftus Versfeld.

Steenekamp gets Bok call-up

Former Junior Springbok prop Gerhard Steenekamp has been drafted into the national squad, and had his first training session with the team on Wednesday. The talented 26-year-old will travel to New Zealand on Wednesday night to train with the players who departed on Tuesday.

Experienced prop Trevor Nyakane is also training with the squad in Pretoria and will continue to serve as back-up cover with Elton Jantjies (flyhalf) and Herschel Jantjies (scrumhalf) for the Australia Test.

“It’s never ideal to lose a player to injury days before an important Test match, but unfortunately it’s part of the game,” said Nienaber.

“We are particularly sad for Ox because he’s been working very hard in the last few months and making a great contribution on and off the field. We wish him a speedy recovery.”

Adaptability

Nienaber added: “On the upside we have players like Steven and Trevor to fall back on, and with both players having been with us in Pretoria for the last three-and-a-half weeks, it’s an easy switch for this match.

“We’ve always emphasised the importance of being adaptable as a team and that will be particularly important this season.

“This will also be a fantastic opportunity for Gerhard to experience our systems and to be in the national set-up. He’s been impressive for the Bulls this season and he’s a former Junior Springbok, so we are excited to see what he has to offer at training.

Bok team: Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Lukhanyo Am, Andre Esterhuizen, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Manie Libbok, Cobus Reinach, Duane Vermeulen (capt), Pieter-Steph du Toit, Marco van Staden, Marvin Orie, Jean Kleyn, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff. Bench: Joseph Dweba, Thomas du Toit, Vincent Koch, RG Snyman, Evan Roos, Deon Fourie, Grant Williams, Damian Willemse