HEYNEKE MEYER’S INJURY WOES CONTINUE #PaleToe

Jun 29 • General News, International, Springboks • 2906 Views • Comments Off on HEYNEKE MEYER’S INJURY WOES CONTINUE #PaleToe

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Montecasiono- Johannesburg

Simon Riekert

The National coach of the Springboks, Heyneke Meyer on Monday sounded concerned about a long list of injuries on players who are eligible for selection in the Springbok squad.

Assisted by the team physician, Dr, Craig Roberts, Meyer expressed great concern for the toll that SupeRugby had on players. The first goal is to get the players with long term injuries back on the field and Meyer indicated to a packed media conference that it is going to take some doing.

Roberts’ list included players like Coenie Oosthuizen who will miss the entire Castle Lager Rugby Championship due to a slipped disc in his neck, Pieter-Steph du Toit (knee) is improving, Jean de Villiers is “progressing fine and will get some game time”, Duane Vermeulen (neck) will miss the first couple of games, Fourie du Preez in training in Japan injured his knee and medial ligaments and will be out for 4-8 weeks, Jaque Fourie needs a lot of conditioning because of little game time but has no niggles, Pat Lambie has been cleared by his specialist and will do some contact training this week, Cobus Reinach (hand) should be available for the first games, Heinrich Brussow (broken arm) is making good progress and will gradually be introduced to contacttraining, Schalk Burger(groin strain) is doing good rehabilitation work and will be considerd soon, Lood de Jager (dislocated elbow) is also in the same boat and careful assessment will indicate when he will be ready, Lionel Mapoe (lateral knee injury) might be doing better than expected and will be assessed this week, Jan Serfontein (hip) will be carefully checked to ease him back into game time.

Roberts bemoaned some Superrugby-franchises who did not allow players 5 weeks’ rest as scientifically requested, the net result being that some of them now find themselves on the long injury list. All the players will be subject to game time to build confidence and match fitness.

Heyneke Meyer confirmed that there is a fine balance in getting the players back and getting enough game time to be ready for the World Cup in September.

He will contact some of the Currie cup franchises to assist with the process.

Meyer reitrearted that there is a lot of work to be done, especially with the players conditioning.

‘We want to win every single test match, but the players will have to be ready for this challenge. I am ready for it, I want to engage them immediately”, Meyer said.

“I will never make the Springbok jersey cheap and just pick guys to fill the team. I will have to use the Championship as preparation for the World Cup. I could not train my squad in November, some of them were injured and some not there.

“You have to give the younger players game time and to balance it with the experience in the team. We play the World Team (11 July 2015) and this means that I will have to give players game time with seven reserves on the bench. Guys like Jean, Patrick, Lood and Heinrich will only play 20 minutes.’

Meyer expressed his disappointment with the fact that South Africa was again unsuccessful in the Super15 rugby tournament.

“I would have loved to have conditioned players, but hopefully the franchises and provinces will help us getting players game ready. The World Cup still remains the ultimate goal for us to work to and we will do our best to get the players ready, confident and prepared to London.”

The Springboks will be playing the following matches before the 2015-World Cup:

HEYNEKE MEYER’S INJURY WOES CONTINUE

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