Cape Town - Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard and centre Lukhanyo Am will return to their clubs for further medical assessments after being ruled out of Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash against Australia in Sydney.
Both Pollard and Am suffered knee injuries in the Boks' 25-17 defeat against the Wallabies last weekend.
The duo will return to English club Leicester Tigers and the Sharks, respectively, for further medical advice.
Flyhalf Elton Jantjies (hand) and Pieter-Steph du Toit (knee), who were also ruled out for the Sydney Test, will remain in camp, as they are expected to recover sufficiently from their injuries for the last two matches of the team’s campaign against Argentina.
While Bok coach Jacques Nienaber said that no replacements will be called up, he explained that they will call upon reinforcement should the need arise.
“It’s always unfortunate to lose players in a squad, but this opens the door for other players to step in and showcase what they can do in those positions,” said Nienaber.
“We will now have 32 players in camp and with Elton expected to recover for the matches against Argentina and players such as Andre (Esterhuizen) and Jesse (Kriel) and Frans (Steyn) all being capable centres, so we are well covered.
“Our plan from the outset of the season was to give most of the players in our expanded squad game time as we build towards the Rugby World Cup, and this involved rotating a few players, so we’ll use this opportunity to build our depth.”
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