There were a smattering of Springboks on the Hollywoodbets Sharks’ list of injured players ahead of Friday night’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with the Ospreys but none of them appear serious enough to bother either John Plumtree or national coach Rassie Erasmus.
The Sharks have one game to come in the league phase of the URC season after the Hollywoodbets Kings Park clash with the 11th placed Ospreys and then they head into the URC Finals Series a fortnight later, with their first opponents likely to be the DHL Stormers in the quarterfinal round.
In that bye week there is a Bok alignment camp scheduled, but according to Sharks boss Plumtree, the majority of the four players missing from Friday night’s selection – scrumhalf Grant Williams (neck), flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse (back), centre Lukhanyo Am (knee) and loosehead prop Ox Nche – should be available not only for their national duties but also possibly the Scarlets game that rounds off the league season.
Of that quartet, Williams has had the most long standing issue as he has been out for a few weeks and might be the biggest worry, but Plumtree’s approach to the scrumhalf’s neck injury appears to be guided by what is in the player’s interests going forward. After all, the Sharks do have another Bok scrumhalf on their books in Jaden Hendrikse, who will start against the Ospreys.
“It has been bothering him for several weeks now, so we just want to give him the best possible chance to recover,” said Plumtree.
“Grant doesn’t just have the playoffs for us coming up, he potentially also has a big international calendar to get through after that.”
ARTIFICIAL PITCH PROBLEMS
In the case of Am it appears another case of artificial pitches either causing injuries or aggravating injuries, something that is a concern among sports scientists and some sections of the rugby fraternity overseas but is ignored probably because of the money spent by the clubs over there installing their 4G or 5G surfaces.
Plumtree appeared reluctant to say anything that would be seen as condemnation of the artificial surfaces the Sharks played on against Edinburgh and Ulster, but he did admit that it had an impact on particularly older players.
