Smit, who sustained the injury ahead of last weekend’s Test against France, underwent a scan in Durban on Monday and is likely to rejoin the squad in East London next week ahead of the second Italy Test. Team doctor Craig Roberts confirmed that the injury was not severe and that Smit could be fit for the East London Test.
The only other injury concern is flank Schalk Burger, who rolled his ankle towards the end of the French Test but should recover in time for the Italy clash.
Meanwhile, Bok coach Peter de Villiers has released lock Danie Rossouw and centres Jaque Fourie and Wynand Olivier from the Test squad this week.
“Danie has played a lot of rugby in recent weeks and this is an opportunity to give him some recovery time. He is the first choice lock at the moment but are we not lucky to have Bakkies Botha available amongst the three locks that we can consider for the Test?
“Jaque and Wynand have also played a lot of rugby and we are so fortunate to have so many top centres to choose from too,” De Villiers said.
Referring to Smit’s absence, De Villiers reaffirmed his faith in Victor Matfield’s leadership capabilities.
“Victor is a great leader. He led the side when we won in Dunedin for the first time and he did a great job in the second half against France. He has also proven himself many times as a leader in Vodacom Super 14 and Absa Currie Cup rugby,” De Villiers said.
The Springboks had their first field session on Monday morning with all except Burger taking part. Enthusiastic locals turned out to greet the team on what is a rare visit to the town.
“It is great to be here,” De Villiers said. “There are die-hard rugby fans here who will always support us and we appreciate it. The soccer world cup has brought us here almost by default but we are excited to be here and hope that the people come out in their numbers to support us this week.”
The team to face Italy on Saturday will be confirmed on Tuesday.
Ek hoop hierdie is net `n eksperiment en ons sien vir Gary in die drie nasies. Of voel hulle hulle het dalk te veel Bothas in die span dan?
Maku het nog nie n volle wedstryd die jaar gespeel nie en dit sou ook sleg gewees het om hom bo Gary in te span in die S14, maar duidelik dink die afrigter dat Ludeke, en Heyneke weet glad nie wat hulle doen.
As hulle dan wil eksperimenteer, en aangesien Schalk effe beseer is (en die het ook mos n volle S14 gespeel), gee hom dan ruskans (Louw het nog meer gespeel), en Bakkies kort speeltyd. Dus;
1 Gurthro
2 Chili
3 BJ
4 Bakkies
5 Victor
6 Stegmann
7 Potgieter (het baie ruskans gehad in die S14)
8 Spies
9 Ricky
10 Morras
11 Habana (aangesien hy ook hope “gerus” het op vleuel 😉 )
12 Jean
13 Jacque
14 Aplon
15 Kirchner
Gary Botha probably came back to take a dip for the world cup….looks like he may as well go back to Harlequins. Did he p*ss on someones battery or something….he played well this year!
4man @ 3
well, then maybe he should just continue playing well …. hopefully his break will come and he’ll still get a chance to prove that he belongs at int level!!
Gary Botha returned to SA mostly for family reasons.
I see Bismarck dP expects to play again beginning August.
ek dink maku is n speler vir die toekoms,net die vraag was hy beter as tiaan en gary? As ons sonder twyfel kan se ja dan moet hy daar wees,indien nie wel….
Sorry, but this is a huge slap in the face for players like Botha and Liebenberg. Test rugby is not where players should be developed. They should be developed on dirt tracker tours and through the CC / VC and S14.
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