Boks lose Frans Steyn
The Springboks’ World Cup campaign has been dealt a massive blow with the news that Frans Steyn is likely to return home after sustaining a shoulder injury during the Boks hard-fought victory over Samoa on Friday.
Sport24 reports that Bok coach Peter de Villiers and the team doctors “will confirm it 100% this morning, but it’s 95 percent that he’s on his way home and that is a big blow for us.”
Steyn, who was moved from fullback to inside centre after Jean de Villiers picked up an injury has been nothing short of a revelation. Not only did he add that extra physical presence on attack, but him and Jaque Fourie also formed a formidable defensive midfield partnership that very seldom let a player slip through.
Apart from his presence in midfield, Steyn also has the ability to convert drop goals and penalty conversions from 60meters out, making teams think twice about conceding penalties. Steyn is also versatile enough to slot in at almost any postition in the back line but has already proven to be effective at flyhalf, fullback and centre.
Other players that picked up niggles during the Boks’ final pool match are try-scorer Bryan Habana and his wing partner JP Pietersen. De Villiers were hopeful that they would recover and said it’s only battle scars that they picked up.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with us, when we get an injury in one position we get it in one position. We had a lock (problem), and suddenly we lost three wings in one game.” De Villiers said
“When lady luck turns her back on us, she turns it properly on us.”
The Boks are likely to face Australia in the quarter-finals next weekend but will have to do battle without the versatile Steyn.
Related Posts
« FS Cheetahs to face the Lions Zane Kirchner jets in to replace injured Steyn »
