Double blow for Junior Boks

Western Province flyhalf David Coetzer and Sharks No 8 Phendulani Buthelezi (above) will join the Junior Springboks in France today as injury replacements for Damian Willemse and Muller du Plessis respectively.

On Sunday Willemse suffered a knee injury in the team’s World Rugby Under-20 Championship match against Ireland, which will sideline him for four to six weeks. Du Plessis injured a gluteal muscle and is expected to be out for between two and four weeks.

Buthelezi and Coetzer both have Junior Springbok experience, having featured in the team’s warm-up matches, with Buthelezi taking to the field in all three matches on the UK tour and against Georgia in Stellenbosch, while Coetzer played against Wales and England on tour.

With sufficient cover among the backs as centre Rikus Pretorius and winger Sihle Njezula return to action, the coach opted to call up a back and forward.

“It is never good when players suffer injuries,” said coach Chean Roux. “In Damian’s case particularly, if we really had to, we could probably have strapped him and played him in one of the play-off games. But if one looks at the bigger picture, it is better for him as a player and for South African rugby that he takes a break and does proper recovery so that he can be 100% ready to play again.”

Roux has full faith in Coetzer and Buthelezi and said: “It is certainly a positive to gain players like David and Phendulani. They have been in SA Rugby’s Elite Player Development system for a while now and will slot in with ease.”

Having had time to reflect on the match against Ireland, the coach said: “I think we played in patches, but our scrums were good. We usually have a very good lineout, but for some reason it didn’t function. So there are small changes we need to make.”

With the match against France kicking off at 9pm on Thursday in Narbonne, Roux said they would adapt the training schedule in the next few days to ensure the players adjust. – Own Correspondent