Springboks captain Siya Kolisi finds out if he’ll play Italy

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Springboks’ first international test against Italy this weekend will be without captain Siya Kolisi, who, according to reports, is suffering from an Achilles issue.

“He had a stiff neck, which has cleared up, but now he’s got a bit of Achilles stiffness. It’s not serious – the scans are clear – but we’re just being careful. No player will play more than eight or nine matches this year, so we’d rather be safe,” said Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.

Springbok lineup:

15 Damian Willemse, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche.
Bench: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux.

Stormers enforcer Evan Roos will not partake in the game – Springboks’ Erasmus offered some insight into the situation a few weeks back.

“At this stage he’s just competing with the best. We all have different opinions on who plays well and who doesn’t. In our opinion, he wasn’t playing as well as the other guys and that’s normally the reason we don’t select guys.

“At this stage, Juarno [Augustus; failed to pass an exit medical at Northhampton Saints ahead of his move to Ulster] and Cameron [Hanekom] are out. Evan was not playing as well as the other guys. That’s not to say he isn’t Springbok level, it’s just that Kwagga Smith, Cameron, Juarno, and Siya [Kolisi] can all play eight,” Erasmus added.

“A guy can be good enough, but there are just two or three guys who we think fit better into what we are trying to do as a Springbok team. Maybe he just doesn’t fit that plan or the other guys are a bit more settled.”