Former Stormers and Western Province captain Neil de Kock won’t be fit for Saracens’ visit to Newlands on January 25.
Stephen Nell writes for Die Burger that Saracens director of rugby Eddie Jones said on Monday De Kock had broken his arm and would therefore not be available for the English Premiership club’s tour of South Africa.
“Neil will be out of action for 10 weeks. It’s a huge blow for us. He’s a very important player in our side,” said Jones.
Saracens thrashed Bristol 37-13 on Sunday and are now sixth on the English log.
Former Wallaby coach Jones said there was a strong possibility that ex-Springbok tighthead prop Cobus Visagie would play for Saracens against the Stormers.
Visagie was a pillar of strength for the Stormers and Western Province for years before his decision to move to England.
He is now in the twilight of his career as player and is assisting with the coaching of Saracens’ forwards.
He was used as a substitute against Bristol and is still a powerful scrummager.
“Cobus is likely to be involved,” said Jones.
The same possibly applies to other big names such as former All Black lock Chris Jack, New Zealand flyhalf Glen Jackson and former Springbok loose forward Wikus van Heerden.
Jones said Saracens’ first aim would be to win the game against the Stormers rather than try out combinations.
“Our goal is to win. We’re trying to build a strong club here. The conditions will be warm, which will be conducive to moving the ball around,” he said.
“We’re going to be off for a few weeks so the timing for the tour is good. We want to improve the players’ fitness before the last three months of our domestic season.”
Saracens land in Cape Town on January 24 and play the Stormers the following day.
They also play Boland in Wellington on January 28.
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Swak, was hoping to see him at Nuweland.
His last few games for WeePee were woeful and it woulda been nice for him to throw out a decent performance albeit for another team.
How’d he break his arm?
@McLovin (Comment 2) : In Sunday’s 37-13 victory over Bristol. And requires surgery.