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Durban - Jean de Villiers has recovered well from his knee injury, but now faces a four to six week spell on the sidelines with a fractured jaw.
But perhaps the most concerning injury news to come out of Saturday's shock 37-25 loss to Argentina is that Marcell Coetzee's knee injury has put him in a race against time to get fit for the World Cup.
Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts gave his injury update on Monday morning ahead of this weekend's trip to Buenos Aires for a return clash against the Pumas.
As always, there was good news and bad. Here's what Roberts had to say about the wounded Boks.
MARCELL COETZEE
"Marcell injured his knee. He’s got a grade two medial ligament strain. The usual rehab for that is around six weeks. For him it’s a race against time and we’re doing everything we can to manage it."
JEAN DE VILLIERS
"We were really happy with his knee but he also took a knock to the jaw. My hat off to him, we had run out of subs at that stage and he finished the game. We took him for x-rays after and he’s got a crack in his jaw, so his jaw is fractured. It’s not a bad fracture. We’re seeing a specialist today (Monday). He’ll probably be out for four to six weeks."
"We let it settle down. It’s difficult chewing on that side so he’s on a soft diet right now. But as we go on he can work on his conditioning and his knee."
WILLIE LE ROUX
"Willie rolled his ankle in the first minute of the game. He soldiered on but his ankle is very sore and stiff. It will effectively rule him out for this weekend. He’ll be fine for the World Cup."
WILLEM ALBERTS
"We’re very happy with Willem, he’s available for this weekend."
VICTOR MATFIELD
"Victor we’ll assess today (Monday). He’s very close to being available so it looks like he’ll be cleared to play."
FOURIE DU PREEZ
"We’ll make a call on him later today (Monday)."
JP PIETERSEN
"JP Pietersen won’t be available. He’s not as far along in terms of rehabilitation from that hamstring injury."
JANNIE DU PLESSIS
"Jannie du Plessis still has that medial collateral and he won’t be available either."
DUANE VERMEULEN AND FRANCOIS LOUW
"Duane and Francois Louw are still long term injuries. Duane we’re really happy with. He’s conditioning well, he’s started running so now we can start working on his fitness. He’s working incredibly hard in the gym and on his aerobic fitness. He’s progressing nicely but for him it’s about doing the time before he can take contact."
STEVEN KITSHOFF
"Steven Kitshoff was cleared last week."
FRANS STEYN
"With his circumstances he hasn’t been in the camp so I haven’t seen him."
FRANS MALHERBE
"Frans Malherbe is cleared to play. He was cleared last week."
PIETER-STEPH DU TOIT
"Pieter-Steph came through nicely. He needs a bit of game time."
The Boks will announce their squad for Argentina on Wednesday.
