With Warren Whiteley not able to take contact because of his troublesome shoulder and confining himself to drills on the side of the field as the rest of the Boks trained in cold conditions in Zwide on Monday afternoon, it became apparent that Sikhumbuzo Notshe is the third No 8 option and will play off the back of the scrum if needed at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The good news on Whiteley though is that scans revealed no significant damage to his painful shoulder and the Bok management is confident he will be fit to play in the series decider.
He would have come into strong consideration for a starting place anyway and the Vermeulen injury effectively takes away a difficult decision for coach Allister Coetzee.
The Lions captain is the form player at present and made a significant contribution to the Bok second-half comeback at Emirates Airlines Park, where they scored 29 points to seven in the second half en route to turning over a 16-point halftime deficit.
Vermeulen will be out of rugby from two to six weeks with his injury.
“Duane went for X-rays on Monday and they revealed a grade 2 tear in the elbow,” said the Bok team doctor Konrad von Hagen.
The announcement that no replacement will be called confirmed that Notshe could see action if Whiteley is not passed fit to play.
Whiteley took a blow to the AC shoulder joint during the Bok win in Johannesburg and his condition will be assessed on Tuesday, as will that of prop Trevor Nyakane. Scans have found that Nyakane’s sore ankle is normal except for some swelling.
Steven Kitshoff was in the thick of things as the Boks trained against a shadow Southern Kings team on Monday and will get a place in the matchday 23 if Nyakane doesn’t recover enough to be in the selection mix for Saturday’s game.
