After the departure of JP Pietersen and Andries Bekker from the Springbok camp due to injury, came the news that Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw and Bryan Habana are also battling injuries.

The trio of Bulls stars are busy working with doctor Craig Roberts on their rehabilitation, with Botha carrying a knee injury, Habana having a groin niggle and Rossouw working on his conditioning following a mild hamstring strain he suffered before coming to Australia.

But with coach Peter de Villiers needing to find replacements for Pietersen and Bekker in the match-day 22 for Saturday’s test in Brisbane, there is some trepidation in the camp.

“The Bakkies injury is more of a worry than anything else, especially since Danie is fit but hasn’t played for a while. We haven’t used him a lot and we’ll have to see whether he can be an 80-minute player,” De Villiers said on Monday.

“Bryan is more precautionary, he was rucked in the groin, but he could have played today if he had to. But it’s a tough tour and the management of the players is important.”

De Villiers hinted that he may change his mind over calling up replacements for Pietersen and Bekker.

“I don’t want to weaken the provincial sides and then not use someone I’ve called over. But I will speak to the doctor and see if we really need someone. I appointed a brilliant support staff and I trust them with my life, I trust them to make those calls. If the doctor says I must look at other players, then I will do it,” the coach said.

De Villiers, who has put aside the antipathy he had displayed towards the media earlier in the year, was philosophical about the injury concerns.

“We always prepare for the uncontrollables, that’s part and parcel of being a rugby coach. Things are not always going to go all your way. We’ve been so lucky that we have not had a lot of injuries, but now we will just have to replace those players that do get injured,” De Villiers said.

The one thing the former scrumhalf is loathe to do is take anything for granted, even though the Springboks seem to have built up unstoppable momentum on their march to the Tri-Nations title.

“We have done good up till now, but we need to keep that momemtum going. Now is not the time to make silly mistakes even though we are so close to winning the competition.”

De Villiers made it quite clear that he will not be making a host of unforced changes to the Springbok team, admitting that he did not want a repeat of what happened in the final test of the British and Irish Lions series, when he made ten changes and lost 28-9 in Johannesburg.

“I only make the same mistake once. I made changes for the last test against the Lions, but it has worked in our favour because I now know where I stand in terms of combinations and individual players.

“We will take it game by game, even if we have won the Tri-Nations, because we want to stay number one. We want to lead, we want to set trends, lay down markers wherever we go. We want the world to follow the things we do well and we will not cheapen our emblem,” De Villiers said.

Source: supersport.co.za

Pic: ofm.co.za

Tags: andries bekker, bakkies botha, bryan habana, danie rossouw, jp pietersen, Springboks