Injuries
Lions coach Johan Ackermann will be sweating over the fitness of two key players, following his team’s 19-12 win over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.
With their final pre-season outing, before their return to Super Rugby in a fortnight, against the Sharks at Ellis Park on Friday, the last thing Ackermann needed was serious injuries.
However, both fullback Andries Coetzee and lock Rudi Matthee looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
It could not have been a worse start to the year for the Brumbies – losing their opening trial match and seeing star back Pat McCabe go down again.
McCabe, who has already overcome a neck fracture twice, was returning to action when he suffered a head knock as the Brumbies were overrun 15-11 by the Highlanders in a trial match in Queenstown on Friday.
The injured Springbok Sevens duo of Seabelo Senatla and Rosko Specman will return to South Africa and will be replaced by Jamba Ulengo and Kwagga Smith for the Wellington Sevens on 7 – 8 February, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed on Thursday.
The two wings sustained ankle injuries during last weekend’s Las Vegas Sevens, where the Bok Sevens team won the tournament title for a second successive year. Smith and Ulengo will join the squad on Saturday.
Ma’a Nonu admitted that the Blues fans may not embrace him after his highly publicised walk-out on the franchise in 2012.
The return to action of the veteran midfielder, who re-joined the Blues squad this week along with the rest of the All Blacks, will be delayed by an injury.
The DHL Stormers look set to play without a few of their players in the warm-up game in Polokwane (Pietersburg) this weekend, due to injury.
Brok Harris, Manuel Carizza, Jaco Taute and De Kock Steenkamp are not available to play on the weekend.
As the Super Rugby season draws nearer, the teams will be trying to get their injury lists as short as possible, to go into Super Rugby with real war machines.
At the Bulls it was last weak feared and speculated that the Bulls would go into the Stormers warm-up with 3 key players not available. That fear is now eased with the news that only one player, Morné Mellet, won’t be ready to play on the weekend.
The Bulls also expressed their confidence in their all-round props after last year’s Super Rugby season saw them struggle in the scrums at times.
Sharks wing Lwazi Mvovo says the injury he sustained against Saracens is not as serious as initially feared.
Springbok lock Bakkies Botha faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after he suffered a fractured forearm in Toulon’s 10-23 Top 14 loss to Brive on Saturday.
The Vodacom Bulls will be without three of their regulars when they take on the DHL Stormers in their only pre-season match in Polokwane on 1 February.
The Bulls will be missing the likes of Springbok Arno Botha, prop Morne Mellett and lock David Bulbring for the game, after the medical team decided to withdraw them from the clash ahead of a long and tough season that lies ahead.
Springbok loose forward Marcell Coetzee has been withdrawn from the Sharks’ touring party for Saturday’s unique pre-season clash against Saracens in London due to injury.
Chiefs hooker Hika Elliot has been training with his team-mates but a decision on his short and long term playing future will have to be made.
The Super Rugby winning hooker has a serious neck injury which could force him into retiring from playing rugby altogether.
Ryan Jones has been ruled out of Wales’ Six Nations campaign because of a hamstring injury. The 32-year-old back-row forward led Wales in three of their matches in the 2013 tournament as they retained the Championship title.
France have suffered a major blow for the Six Nations as Top 14 Rugby club Toulouse have announced that their captain Thierry Dusautoir has been ruled out of the championship.
The 32-year-old flanker – capped 65 times and world player of the year in 2011 – will be out for four months after he tore a tendon in his right biceps, Toulouse head coach Guy Noves said.
New Zealand will be without the services of star playmaker Tomasi Cama when they take part in the fourth leg of the IRB Sevens World Series in Las Vegas.
Cama suffered a calf injury in training and will not depart with the team on Sunday – ahead of the Vegas tournament on 25 January and 26.
Cheslin Kolbe’s Super Rugby debut has been pushed back after the rising star suffered a serious knee injury during a Stormers training session on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old suffered a torn lateral meniscus in what coach Allister Coetzee described as a “freak accident” and requires surgery that will sideline him for at least eight weeks.
Gethin Jenkins has been included in a 32-man Wales squad for the Six Nations despite concerns over his damaged knee. The 33-year-old prop had a scan on Monday after he was injured in Cardiff Blues’ Heineken Cup defeat by Toulon.
The Toyota Cheetahs will have to do without Heinrich Brüssow for the opening 6 rounds of their 2014 Super Rugby season after the loose forward tore a ligament in his toe.
The Springbok flank, who was due to return to the Cheetahs to take part in this year’s Super Rugby competition, sustained the injury while playing his first season for Japanese club Docomo Red Hurricanes.
Injury concerns are threatening to overshadow Wales coach Warren Gatland’s Six Nations squad announcement on Tuesday.
Wales are bidding to win a third outright title in succession, something never achieved before in the tournament’s history.
Concussion protocols in English rugby will be tightened up to protect players who have suffered head injuries with the aim of ensuring they do not return to the field of play.
The Blues have withdrawn Culum Retallick from their squad for the upcoming Super Rugby season.
The veteran lock was expected to miss the majority if not all of the season after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Wallabies and Waratahs No 8 Wycliff Palu has declared himself fit and ready for a big Super Rugby season in 2014 having recovered from surgery.
Thirty-one-year-old Palu went under the knife to repair torn cartilage in his right knee and has not played rugby since the Wallabies third Test against the British and Irish Lions.
Morgan Parra will make a surprise return to action against Harlequins in the European Cup on Saturday, his Clermont head coach Vern Cotter said on Thursday.
The Lions have half-a-dozen players on their doubtful list, just more than a month away from their return to Super Rugby.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann, in an interview with this website as his team returned to the training field this week, revealed that Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies tops the list of injured players.
Former Springbok centre Wynand Olivier badly injured his face while training for his French club, Montpellier, on Tuesday.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) is considering stricter protocols to prevent players with possible concussion from returning to the field during matches.
According to a current protocol being tested in some tournaments, a player can return to the playing field if he passes a cognitive test within five minutes. It is called the Pitch Side Concussion Assessment (PSCA) trial – or ‘five-minute test’.
Clermont received fresh injury concerns on Tuesday ahead of Saturday’s crunch European Cup clash with Harlequins as New Zealand centre Regan King and France No.8 Damien Chouly were both ruled out.
Euan Murray’s hopes of being involved in Scotland’s Six Nations campaign were hanging in the balance last night. The veteran Lions prop will be out of action for another month after suffering Achilles tendon damage during the autumn Test series.
Pat McCabe may have fractured his neck twice in 14 months, but he is not about to tone down his abrasive style.
The Brumbies’ Wallaby centre, McCabe, missed the second half of 2013 after he injuring his neck in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in June last year. The 25-year-old first broke his neck on the Wallabies’ year-end tour of Europe in 2012.
France scrumhalf Morgan Parra is set to miss the Six Nations opener against England after being ruled out for 10 to 12 weeks with a knee injury, his Top 14 club Clermont said.
Wales looks set to be without Jonathan Davies for most, if not all, of the Six Nations.
Back row forward Sean O’Brien is in danger of missing Ireland’s entire Six Nations campaign, as he requires surgery on the dislocated left shoulder he suffered against Ulster last Saturday.
The Blues have been dealt a significant blow with the loss of experienced lock Culum Retallick for six months.
28-Year old Retallick ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee during a training drill on Tuesday.
All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter will have surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle, which is a separate issue from his Achilles injury.
Ireland prop Cian Healy looks set to miss the start of next year’s Six Nations tournament after undergoing surgery on an ankle injury.
Bryan Habana’s thigh strain has proved more serious than initially thought and will require surgery which will rule him out for two months.