Warren Whiteley out for eight weeks
JOHANNESBURG: Lions team doctor Rob Collins says no one is to blame for Warren Whiteley, pictured, suffering a torn ligament in his pelvis – also known as sportsman’s groin – which will see him miss the rest of the 2017 Super Rugby season.
“It’s not a normal rugby injury but any athlete that does a lot of running can get it,” said Collins yesterday.
“It’s obviously been worn for a while and now it’s torn. It’s unfortunate but no one is to blame, nobody did anything wrong.
“The good news is Warren is excellent when it comes to rehabilitation work. He’s one of the most professional guys I’ve dealt with regarding this sort of thing, so if all goes well, he’ll be back before eight weeks.”
Collins said Whiteley’s recovery would take six and eight weeks, depending on how well and quickly the Lions captain heals.
“No operation is required; it’s virtually impossible to operate there anyway, so we’ll try to strengthen the muscles around the ligament, allow it to settle and heal itself.”
The 29-year-old, who recently lead the Springboks to a 3-0 series win against France, will sit out the remaining round-robin fixtures against the Sunwolves on Saturday and the Sharks (July 15) as well as the knockout rounds. The Lions have a bye on the weekend of July 8.
It’s a bitter blow to Whiteley and his team, who are well set to again contest strongly in the latter stages of Super Rugby. They’re the runaway leaders from South Africa, winning 12 of 13 games, and have already secured a quarter-final spot. They’ll hope to go all the way this year after losing in the final to the Hurricanes last season.
In the run-up to that game, Whiteley missed the semi-final against the Highlanders after picking up a calf injury in the quarters against the Crusaders.
He then went straight into the Bok squad for the Rugby Championship and left SA in late October to play for Japanese club NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes.
He returned early in the year, went straight into Super Rugby and before the June break had started every one of the Lions’ 13 games this season, totalling 991 minutes of playing time.
It was then straight into the Bok setup, where Whiteley spent three weeks on the training ground and featuring in the Pretoria and Durban Tests, before falling awkwardly and hurting himself on the eve of the Joburg Test.
Collins said he expected Whiteley to make a good, strong recovery in time to lead the Boks in their first Rugby Championship match against Argentina in Port Elizabeth on August 19.
In his absence, the Lions’ captaincy duties are likely to be shared between Jaco Kriel and Ross Cronje. All the other Lions men involved with the Boks and SA “A” sides this month are well and available to either play Super Rugby or SuperSport Challenge rugby.
Meanwhile, centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg is back in training after hurting his knee and undergoing an operation in mid-April. The explosive inside centre will potentially come into the selection mix after the Lions’ bye next weekend, meaning he may be available for the play-offs.