Rassie Erasmus leaves door open for stunning Eben Etzebeth return

Head coach Rassie Erasmus has revealed that Eben Etzebeth is still a chance of playing against the All Blacks this weekend despite not being named in the team’s matchday squad for the clash at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park.

Etzebeth was initially left out of South Africa’s team after suffering a knee injury. The Springboks have a policy that if a player can’t train on Monday then they won’t be made available for the weekend, but there’s an exception to every rule.

The 32-year-old from Cape Town has started the last 22 Test matches between the Springboks and All Blacks and that incredible feat could yet extend further by one match if the star lock is able to “miraculously recover.”

Etzebeth was initially set to miss training on Monday, which is why the Springboks overlooked the two-time Rugby World Cup winner for this weekend’s team, but he ended up training anyway. It’ll all depend on how Etzebeth got through training on Tuesday.

“We announced the team last night with Eben out because if you don’t train on the Monday after the team is announced internally, you don’t play on Saturday,” Erasmus told reporters.

“Eben did the whole training session on Monday and we need to see how Tuesday’s one goes, from where I’ll have a chat with all the players to see if we’ll make a change.

“He may miraculously recover, and the doctor said there was some science behind that and not just the will to play for the big occasion like the All Blacks.

“If that’s the case, we’ll be happy, but it will be very unlucky in terms of Elrigh (Louw), Marco (van Staden) or Kwagga (Smith) in terms of being left out.

“We’ll think clearly, see how Pieter-Steph moves, from where we’ll make the call.”

Assistant coach Deon Davids told the media at a press conference on Monday that Etzebeth was under an injury cloud for the Test. Etzebeth joined a worryingly long list of second rowers who had either been ruled out or were in doubt for the highly anticipated clash.

RG Snyman was another lock who had been deemed unavailable. The hulking loc was a last-minute withdrawal from the team to play the Wallabies in Brisbane earlier this month, but after bouncing back to face the same for a week later, Snyman is out once again.

The Boks have been hit by a genuine second-row crisis which is a genuine concern this week. Salmaan Moerat, Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert and Jean Kleyn are among the other second rowers who won’t take the field at the world-famous Ellis Park.

“It’s a meniscus but not a trauma one, but one that came from a scrum,” Erasmus explained about Etzebeth. “It came about from him changing feet during a scrum session and it wasn’t a case of a teammate running into him to a point where there’s a tear and everything is in pieces.

“It was a live scrum and Eben took a lot of weight on one side and twisted his knee. Hopefully, the mechanics aren’t that bad with big trauma.”