World Cup blow for Coetzee

By SA Rugby

Monday 19 Aug 2019

BREAKING NEWS: Another player has been ruled out of the World Cup through injury.

Marcell Coetzee will undergo ankle surgery on Wednesday.

The Ulster loose forward hurt his ankle and suffered a blow to the head in the first half of the Springboks' 24-18 victory over Argentina in Pretoria at the weekend.

Coetzee will be out of action for up to 12 weeks.

As a result, he is also ruled out of contention for selection for the Springboks' World Cup squad.

He joins three other players in the Bok casualty ward.

World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year Aphiwe Dyantyi headlines the list of injured stars that won’t make the trip to Japan next month.

The wing, former Springboks skipper Warren Whiteley and highly-rated utility back Damian Willemse are also missing the trip to Japan.

* Meanwhile Lizo Gqoboka (Blue Bulls), Marvin Orie (Golden Lions), Thomas du Toit and André Esterhuizen (both Sharks) have been released from the Springbok training squad back to their provinces and will be available for Currie Cup selection this weekend.

The four are members of the Springbok training squad of 36 players who gathered in Bloemfontein on Sunday for the start of a four-day World Cup camp.

They will join their provinces on Tuesday.

The Springbok World Cup squad announcement takes place on Monday, August 26, in Johannesburg.