AUDIO: Bok skipper to miss chunk of season

NEWS: South African will play their first Rugby Championship matches without the services of captain Siyamthanda Kolisi.

The Springboks host Australia at Ellis Park on July 20, in the opening round of a truncated competition.

It is followed a week later by the highly-anticipated encounter with the All Blacks in Wellington.

They conclude their official campaign against Argentina in Salta two weeks later (Saturday, August 10).

The Boks and Pumas have a pre-World Cup once-off international in Pretoria a week later, August 17.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus confirmed on Wednesday that Kolisi's recovery from a knee injury, suffered in May while playing for the Stormers in Super Rugby, is slower than expected.

While Kolisi was named as part of the Springbok training group that assembled for a camp in Pretoria this week, he will be required to return to Western Province for game time in the Currie Cup.

Erasmus said they will take a 'conservative' approach with Kolisi and will also miss the trip to New Zealand for their Round Two encounter with the All Blacks.

"He will be training with us until we get onto the plane to New Zealand, but he will probably stay behind," Erasmus told a media scrum in Pretoria.

""He will probably play one or two Currie Cup games and we plan to then get him back into playing Test match rugby - hopefully in the match against Argentina [in Pretoria on 17 August].

"Hopefully he will be on the plane with us to Japan.

"I think if we push him now to go with us to New Zealand, we might end up with more than a 50 percent chance that he won't go with us to the World Cup," Erasmus added.

Bulls flank Marco van Staden was called up as cover for Kolisi earlier this week.

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