Sacha kept mum on injuries in All Blacks Tests

A knee injury to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has been kept under wraps, first by the player, then by the Springbok management during the Rugby Championship miniseries against New Zealand.

It has now emerged, as the team prepares to play Argentina in Santiago del Estero on Saturday in a match where if they do not lose they will wrap up the title, that Feinberg-Mngomezulu played through both Tests with the injury.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus revealed Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who now has to undergo an operation, should be ready to take part in the Springboks’ end-of-year tour.

“He injured his knee before the first Test against the All Blacks and he played in that game,” Erasmus said about the first clash at Ellis Park.

“The next week on the Wednesday, I asked him why he was limping and he said he injured his knee last week. I wanted to pull him out of that team because he was limping, on the field even.”

Remaining mum about the injury did not endear Feinberg-Mngomezulu to the Bok coach.

“And that’s what our players must understand. We have respect for everybody, but we must be honest when it comes to injuries. Nobody who’s got an injury and is 80% ready is better than a Springbok who has no injuries and is 100% ready.

“So Sacha is lucky we won those Test matches because he gambled a bit. He is having the operation now. Im not sure exactly what is wrong with the knee but he will only be ready in four-and-a-half weeks.”

Handré Pollard will start Saturday’’s Test at flyhalf, while Manie Libbok was named among the replacements. Libbok may get his second start of the year in Mbombela next weekend.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu was left out of the touring squad to Argentina, with Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Cheslin Kolbe, Damian de Allende, Pieter-Steph Du Toit and Willie le Roux, who should be available for selection for the return Test in Mbombela on September 28.

On the plus side too, utility back Damian Willemse should be available for Bok selection for the first time this year, while light has emerged at the end of the lock injury crisis tunnel. Jean Kleyn is making his return to the field for Munster this weekend, while RG Snyman and Franco Mostert are six weeks away from action. Whether Snyman and Mostert will return to fitness in time for the end-of-year tour remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, regular captain Siya Kolisi will be in the coaches’ box at Estadio Unico Madre Ciudades on Saturday to learn more about the coaches’ communication with the players during a game.

“Siya was brought here not to play but as standby if someone gets injured — but also helping to prepare the team off the field for this important game.

“So it was always the plan that he wouldn’t play,” Erasmus said about Kolisi, who suffered a broken nose against the All Blacks at Ellis Park. He needs a medical procedure to fix his nose but that will only be done after the Test against Los Pumas in Mbombela.

“Siya can play in Mbombela next week and then he can have a reset, so he will have it fixed after Mbombela.

“The one thing we also want to do is get Siya in the coaches’ box. We’ve got Duane [Vermeulen] on the side who relays the messages to Siya and the decisionmakers on the field. But he actually doesn’t know what is happening in that coaches’ box, so we want to give him a feel of how we get to a decision or how we send a message down so he understands the whole process.

“Two years ago Duane had a better understanding of how to interpret information he received and we hope to do the same with Siya this week.”

Whether Kolisi eventually follows Vermeulen to the Boks’ coaching team will be a topic of much future speculation.