South Africa rugby director Rassie Erasmus has revealed that Springbok fly-half Handre Pollard could miss the Rugby Championship during July due to a calf injury.
Damian Willemse is now available for the southern hemisphere competition after recovering from a knee injury.
South Africa will face Australia on July 8 in Pretoria, New Zealand in Auckland on July 15, and Argentina in Johannesburg on July 29.
“I think the only real concern will be Handre. Damian is ready to go,” the 2019 Rugby World Cup-winning coach told a press briefing in Pretoria.
“It is a calf injury which he re-injured while playing for Leicester Tigers,” said Erasmus, referring to Pollard.
“With a re-injury we are always a bit nervous and that is the reason why we have Elton (Jantjies) here — so that Handre can fully recover and we do not push him too early.”
Erasmus stated that Pollard would likely participate in at least one of the three August warm-up matches preceding the World Cup in France the following month.
South Africa will face Argentina, Wales, and New Zealand in warm-up matches prior to their first World Cup match on September 10 against Scotland in Marseille.
In Pool B, they will also face Romania, the top-ranked Test team, Ireland, and Tonga, with the section winners and runners-up advancing to the quarterfinals.
Pollard is expected to start against Scotland, who are ranked fifth, one place below South Africa, assuming he fully recovers from his injury.
He played a crucial role in Japan’s 2019 World Cup victory over England, scoring 22 points in a flawless goal-kicking performance.
Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber have three fly-half options for the Rugby Championship, which has been reduced from the usual two rounds to one due to the World Cup.
The Springboks will split their squad for the matches against Australia and New Zealand in order to avoid jet lag, as Auckland is 10 hours ahead of Johannesburg.
Willemse, a creative footballer but erratic goal-kicker, will most likely be in the Auckland advance party.
If so, Manie Libbok could start against Australia, while Jantjies, a late addition to the squad, would be relegated to the bench.
Both lock Eben Etzebeth and scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse are recovering from shoulder injuries and should be able to play against Argentina in the final Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park.
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