1
Sharks deliver a very worrying update on the injured Eben Etzebeth
By Liam Heagney
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.”
Trending on RugbyPass
2
'Chaos': Lawes sheds light on the social that ended 2 England careers
3
Ex-Ireland wing brands Six Nations champs 'not that good'
4
Hacjivah Dayimani exits SA following Springbok snub
5
Latest Comments
Think it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
Go to comments