Boks count the cost of Ireland series

Four injured Springboks will miss the start of the Rugby Championship as the world champions count the cost of their drawn series against Ireland.

Lock Franco Mostert broke a leg, Malcolm Marx injured his knee and Pieter-Steph du Toit has an undisclosed injury that may also rule him out of the August 10 Rugby Championship clash against the Wallabies in Brisbane.

Mostert will be sidelined for six weeks and Du Toit is out for between four to six weeks. Edwill van der Merwe, who did not play against Ireland, injured his ankle while playing for the Lions in the Currie Cup. He is expected to be sidelined for six weeks.

The only silver lining is the restoration to fitness of utility back Canan Moodie, who had a finger fracture.

The full prognosis for the injury Marx sustained is not clear. Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus described it as “a little bit of a tibia fracture”.

Whether it will preclude his involvement from the tour to Australia was not made clear when Erasmus addressed the media in Bloemfontein.

Marx has had rotten luck with injuries in the last while. He suffered a serious knee ligament injury during the 2023 Rugby World Cup after just one game.

The manner in which he was injured last Saturday has invited much scrutiny. Ireland No 8 Caelan Doris and lock James Ryan “croc-rolled” Marx out of a ruck, with the former sent to the sin bin for his infraction. A clip of the incident has drawn much condemnation on social media with the intent of the Irish pair questioned.

As anticipated, SA named a much changed line-up for this Saturday’s Test against Portugal in Bloemfontein.

The injured players — bar perhaps Van der Merwe — would have been rested for the clash, but their injuries will cause angst in the Bok camp ahead of their engagements in Australia.

The Boks’ record in Australia is less than flattering. They went through a sequence of eight Tests starting in 2014 when they were without a win against the Wallabies in Australia but they stopped the rot in 2023 when they convincingly won 24-8 in Sydney.

The Test in Brisbane will be followed by one in Perth a week later.

The Boks haven’t won in Brisbane since 2013, but they are more competitive in Perth. None of the nine Tests they’ve played there since readmission has produced a winner by more than seven points.