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Springbok inside centre Jean de Villiers will play no more top rugby until the beginning of the three match series against the British and Irish Lions.
De Villiers left the field after just three minutes of the Stormers' match against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday. His absence for the duration of the match, coupled with the later departure of lock Adriaan Fondse with a broken wrist and then Gcobani Bobo with an ankle injury, played a big part in the one-sidedness of the match, lost 34-11 by the Stormers.
The Stormers captain underwent a scan on Monday, and the news filtering back from New Zealand is that the worst fears have been confirmed. De Villiers will be out for four to six weeks, which effectively means he will miss the remainder of the competition and the Stormers will have to find a new leader.
The Stormers play their final tour game against the Highlanders in Dunedin this week before returning to South Africa for matches against the Chiefs, Western Force and Cheetahs.
The news should be received with mixed feelings by the Springbok management. Although De Villiers’s form has not been as good just recently as it was at the start of the season, and the pressures of captaining a struggling team may be impacting on his play, he is a must selection for the Lions series.
It was hoped that he might be given a rest opportunity sometime in the Super 14. De Villiers has not had any break from rugby since his last major injury, which was the torn bicep muscle that ruled him out after the first game of the 2007 World Cup. But as former Bok skipper Corne Krige used to be so fond of saying, an injury enforced absence, which is spent working on rehabilitation, is not really a rest.
While De Villiers’s break from the game now at least ensures that he is not in a position to pick up a more serious injury that might prevent him from playing against the Lions, it should be of concern to coach Peter de Villiers that he will not get an opportunity to play before the first test here in mid-June.
There is a chance that the injury will only rule him out for four weeks. That would be the perfect scenario as it will mean he is in a position to play against Namibia at the end May.
The situation for the Stormers is going from bad to worse, with De Villiers’s scan result coming on the back of confirmation that Fondse will be out for eight to 12 weeks with his broken wrist. That means he not only misses the remainder of the Super 14, but also the start of the Currie Cup season for WP.
Hilton Lobberts did well in his first run-on game for the Stormers against the Hurricanes and is likely to continue at lock, with Andries Bekker making a welcome return after his own fairly lengthy injury lay-off. A decision on Bobo will be made this week, but he also looks unlikely to play, which means the Stormers start with a new midfield combination.
