Sharks deliver a very worrying update on the injured Eben Etzebeth

Springboks talisman Eben Etzebeth is facing a race against time to be fit for the start of the upcoming 2023 Rugby Championship. South Africa are scheduled to kick off the tournament on July 9 versus Argentina in Pretoria, but the Sharks have now confirmed the true extent of the shoulder injury the second row suffered last weekend – and it isn’t pretty.

The Sharks are currently in France preparing for Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final at Toulouse but their team announcement was accompanied by a concerning update on Etzebeth, who sat out the second half of last Saturday’s 50-35 round-of-16 home win over Munster in Durban.

After naming an XV that showed two changes from last weekend, with Grant Williams in for the injured Jaden Hendrikse at scrum-half and Hyron Andrews for Etzebeth at lock, director of rugby Neil Powell confirmed that the invaluable Etzebeth won’t play again this season for the Sharks.

“In terms of how long he will be out, it is quite a long time,” explained Powell to South African media ahead of the Champions Cup eliminator. “I’m not 100 per cent sure, but it will be probably between 12 and 14 weeks. I don’t think he will play for us again this season, but he will definitely be ready for the World Cup.

“To lose someone like Eben is a massive blow. He is obviously a big part of our pack and the physicality that we have in that pack. To lose him now before the quarter-final is a bit of a blow, but it is an opportunity for the next guy to come in and show what they are capable of.

“The unfortunate thing about losing Eben is also the fact that we also lost Emile van Heerden (who replaced Etzebeth versus Munster), so it is two locks that we lost in one game. We would have loved to keep that consistency in team selection and try to take a bit of momentum into this game, but we unfortunately were forced to make the changes.”