Jano Vermaak has been replaced in the Springbok squad by Cheetahs scrumhalf Piet van Zyl, after tearing him hamstring against the Italians.
Vermaak played well until he left the field 60 minutes into the match, when Ruan Pienaar replaced him.
Pienaar is expected to start the match against Scotland this weekend, with Francois Hougaard covering from the bench. Sadly, van Zyl is unlikely to take any part in a match day 23.
According to the press release, there are no other serious injury concerns.
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@DBOY (Comment 1) : Was just going to say that… so it looks like Plumtree is on his way out.
Pienaar, notorious for robbing the flyhalf of any good ball. Why couldn’t he have started with Steyn and not Lambie?
To be honest, I’d rather have Van Zyl as back up to Pienaar than Hougaard. Hougie is far too inconsistent to be Bok scrumhalf.
Pienaar’s service from the base of the ruck was crisp and the defense couldn’t get nearly as close to him as they did to Vermaak.
Vermaak seemed to struggle to get the ball away to the backline, really not that impressive.
Vermaak was constantly taking two steps with ball in hand before passing which is why the Italians could get to him. He did this more often off his left hand than right so after 10 minutes they read him easily.
I thought he was a weak point in the Bok backline.