Springboks Rugby

Big blow for South Africa as Springbok Career Hangs by a Thread, Erasmus Sometimes is Bad Luck

Springboks may have to continue onwards without one of their most prevalent players in recent times, who could be forced to retire.

A Springboks career hangs by a thread.

A little over a year ago, Steven Kitshoff, like many of his teammates, was lifting the Web Ellis Cup – for a second time in a row – under the Stade de France lights, prevailing against the All Blacks in a nail-biting 12-11 victory.

Now, there is a risk of him not gracing the pitch again, ending his 32 Springbok-capped career.

What’s the injury?

An acute neck injury means he has to undergo fusion surgery, which has potentially potent ramifications.

Jerome Mampane, Springboks team doctor, provided some insight on the horrific injury, saying, “With Kitshoff, I think there is quite a bit of an assessment phase still going on. Whatever announcement needs to be made, I think we should, hopefully, in the next month or two get some sort of clarity on what his position is,

“Currently, as far as I understand, he is doing quite a lot of travelling at the moment, so it sounds like he’s in good spirits. I don’t know, physically, if that is also translating.”

Words from Kitshoff

Kitshoff has become a part of the Springboks furniture, winning two world cups and on course to reach a hundred caps, until now – however, there is still hope.

Rassie Erasmus, who was not impressed by his sides performance last Sunday, would have found the Paul Roos alumni handy in South Africa’s scrappy victory over Scotland.

“We got a yellow card when they didn’t score a try but actually when they had that red card we didn’t score a point, they scored more points in that time that was really frustrating” Erasmus said.

“When they were 14 men and we were 15 and we couldn’t score that frustrated me a bit but sometimes I think it’s just bad luck, I don’t think any player goes out there and does that kind of thing on purpose.

“I wouldn’t want to be connected to a headline like that, any red card is frustrating if a player did it by accident or did it on purpose which seldom happens,

“Sometimes it’s just an accident, so I would feel frustrated.”

Do you think Kitshoff will play for the Springboks again?

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