The '80 per cent sure' Springboks update on injured Pollard and Am

Jacques Nienaber has given an update on how long injured duo Handre Pollard and Lukhanyo Am will potentially be absent from the game, while also sharing his thoughts on what bringing Bongi Mbonambi back into the Springboks squad this week potentially means for next week’s round six Rugby Championship match at home to Argentina.

The Springboks released both Pollard and Am from their squad on August 31 after they each suffered knee injuries in the round three loss to Australia in Adelaide. Am headed back to the Sharks in Durban and was operated on while the latest dispatch from Leicester last week was that Pollard was being examined by the club medics to gauge the seriousness of his injury.

Springboks head coach Nienaber was quizzed on Tuesday evening in Buenos Aires regarding a further update on the potential availability of both players with six Test matches remaining for South Africa in 2022, the upcoming final two Rugby Championship games versus Argentina and then the first Test November tour in Europe.

“I am not 100 per cent sure in terms of what date they return to training and return to play would be but I know they are out for the Rugby Championship, let’s start there,” said Nienaber during a virtually held media briefing ahead of this Saturday’s round five match against the Pumas.

“They are out of that and I think they are out of the end-of-year tour as well. I’m not 100 per cent sure but I would say I am 80 per cent sure.”

With regard to Mbonambi, who hasn’t played for the Springboks since the round one win over the All Blacks in Mbombela due to a knee injury, Nienaber added: “We got Bongi in to have a look at him and if he is available to play, if he goes through his process and his rehabilitation and he is on track, he will be somebody we will consider next week but we won’t risk him at all if he is not 100 per cent fit and ready to go.”

Nienaber named an unchanged team for this Saturday’s away game with Argentina following the round four win over the Wallabies in Sydney and he described the two-game conclusion to the Rugby Championship as effectively a semi-final, final situation with all four teams still in the title hunt - the All Blacks a point ahead of the Springboks, Australia and Argentina who all have nine.

“Yes, 100 per cent we will treat it as a semi-final, final because if we want to be successful and win the Rugby Championship we have to treat it as a semi-final, final. Every Test match for us is winning at all costs even though we haven’t been consistent in team selection because we want to look at where our squad is currently at.

“You have to have an eye on getting answers in certain positions, but definitely these two matches will be semi-final, final.”