Another Sharks injury
Jordaan goes down in freak accident and is on his way home
IT TOOK just 30 minutes into the Sharks’ Super Rugby tour for the injury bogey to strike once more when centre Paul Jordaan injured knee ligaments in a freakish accident. He will almost certainly be on his way back to Durban.
Jordaan was to have an MRI scan on his left knee today, but the pain and nausea he was suffering suggest it is a forlorn hope from the coaching staff that somehow Jordaan will recover to play a role on this four-week tour.
The Sharks had just finished warming up at Keirle Park, home of the Mighty Roos, and the backs were playing touch rugby when Jordaan caught his foot in a clump of grass while sidestepping and went down in agony.
He later said: “I felt my ligaments go.”
“That is the 16th injury,” crestfallen coach John Plumtree said. “Paul was just starting to play so well and he is key to the attacking game we want to develop on tour.”
The Sharks are based in the suburb of Manly, a sunny surfers’ paradise, having chosen to stay away from the cold of New Zealand for as long as possible. On Thursday they will transfer to Hamilton, the venue of their match against the Chiefs on Saturday. They arrived on Monday afternoon Australian time and worked the flight out on the beach with a long walk and a swim, then got cracking this morning.
“We had hoped we had left our bad luck behind in Durban,” Plumtree said.
“And this first session was a non-contact one. We wanted to keep it to a light session in the sun as we continue to recover from the travel, and yet we still picked up a serious injury.”
Another who limped off the training field was Cobus Reinach, who felt a tightening of a hamstring. The scrumhalf suffered a heavy “lamey” late in the game against the Cheetahs and in training felt the pain stretching down into his hamstring. Reinach was not overly concerned, though, and the medical staff are optimistic he’ll recover.
Plumtree said the obvious replacement for Jordaan at centre is Frans Steyn, who played off the bench against the Cheetahs because of loss of form. Plumtree has brought over centre cover in Paul Lindeque, the former Sharks age group player who recently had a standout campaign for Tukkies in the Varsity Cup, but the coach said he would rather give an opportunity to the experienced Steyn to reignite his season.
Plumtree confirmed that two Sharks XV players are on their way to join the Sharks, but that there had been no luck as yet in gaining the services of Lions prop JC Janse van Rensburg, who has recently signed for French club Bayonne.
The Sharks are still trying to get the highly regarded loosehead prop on loan.
The prop that is on his way is young Danie Mienie. He has been playing Vodacom Cup rugby this season and played for the Barney’s Army team against the Sharks last year.
The other new tourist will be wing S’bura Sithole.
They replace the players injured against the Cheetahs last weekend in Andries Coetzee and Tendai Mtawarira respectively.
A replacement for Jordaan will only be discussed when the full extent of his injury is known.