The Sharks’ European Challenge Cup campaign, which begins next Monday, appears to be missing one of its World Cup Springboks.
One of the main contributors to the Springboks’ consecutive World Cup wins, Eben Etzebeth, is questionable for next Sunday’s Round of 16 matchup against Zebre.
Player of the Year for South Africa, Etzebeth, suffered a rib injury during the Sharks’ 23–13 victory over Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday.
After suffering an injury in the first half, young Corne Rahl took his position at halftime.
When fellow World Cup winner Vincent Koch was ruled out due to a “tummy bug,” the Sharks suffered a blow.
Khwezi Mona was placed on the bench and Ntuthuko Mchunu took his spot in the starting 15.
According to coach John Plumtree, Etzebeth will need a scan to find out how serious his rib injury is.
The coach remarked, “Hopefully, it’s just a [rib] cartilage. If so, it should only take two or three weeks.”
He hurts a little bit.
Although Plumtree gave Etzebeth time to heal by not officially ruling him out of the Challenge Cup match against the Italian team the next week, it seems improbable that he will prevail in the battle against time.
Their only chance to return to Europe’s top division, the Champions Cup, for the upcoming season is to win the Challenge Cup given that they are out of the URC play-off campaign.
The loss occurs as the Sharks move off the bottom of the table after winning the URC back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Complete backAphelele Fassi was the highlight after scoring a spectacular solo try, one of many spectacular breaks, then stopping the visitors with his accurate left boot.
Despite their struggles, Edinburgh is still very much in the running for a play-off position. Their performance against the South African team was lackluster.
In the 21st minute, Fassi performed a feat of sorcery to upset the early balance by taking a line-out and sprinting through a wide opening in the opposition forwards.
The Springbok scored as he ducked under a dejected tackle from Duhan van der Merwe and went around flyhalf Ben Healy.
