UPDATED: The Springboks’ growing injury list

Rugby is a game filled with massive collisions and centred around physicality, making injuries part and parcel of the sport. And the Springboks’ rapidly growing injury count is proof thereof.

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The Springboks will only be back in action in July, which is still some five months away. But that doesn’t make the long —and growing — list of injured Test players any less concerning.

Apart from the players still nursing injuries from the Rugby World Cup, several other Springboks have sustained knocks while on club duty in the days and months since the big tournament.

Here’s a complete list of all the Springboks currently injured:

• Vincent Kock (knee)
• Malcolm Marx (knee)
• Jean Kleyn (knee)
• Kwagga Smith (thigh)
• Faf de Klerk (knee)
• Jesse Kriel (thumb)
• Eben Etzebeth (knee)

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Marx and Koch were both injured at some stage during the Rugby World Cup and have not featured since.

Marx, who plays for the Kubota Spears, will miss the entire Japanese season. It remains unclear whether he’ll fully recover in time for the Springboks’ mid-year Tests starting in July.

Back in November, doctors ruled Koch out for approximately three months. If his rehabilitation program moved according to schedule, he should he making his return to action anytime. But unfortunately, he is still yet to take up full training with the Sharks, let alone play any games.

Kleyn had suffered an eye injury while playing against Leinster last November and was ruled out for the remainder of Munster’s season. And because the eye knock was ‘slow to recover’, Kleyn made the decision to get surgery on a recurring knee injury during this time.

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As for Kwagga Smith, he is in danger of missing the Springboks’ mid-year Tests altogether after he was sidelined for five months with an adductor tendon rupture which required corrective surgery.

Meanwhile, De Klerk (knee) and Kriel (thumb) are both currently out of action too. However, the pair are expected to be fit in time for the two-Test series against Ireland and the one match against Portugal.

And lastly, the Sharks have confirmed that Eben Etzebeth will be out for action for an unspecified period of time due to a knee knock that also required surgery.

The Japan-based injured Springbok quartet — Marx, Smith, Kriel and de Klerk — have all opted to recuperate at home in South Africa.

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SPRINGBOKS TEST FIXTURES (UPDATED):

Incoming Series:
Saturday, 6 July: Springboks vs Ireland (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)
Saturday, 13 July: SA vs Ireland (Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban)
Saturday, 20 July: Springboks vs Portugal (Toyota Stadium, Bloemfontein)

Rugby Championship:
Saturday, 10 August: Australia vs SA (Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane)
Saturday, 17 August: Australia vs Springboks (Optus Stadium, Perth)
Saturday, 31 August: SA vs New Zealand (Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg)
Saturday, 7 September: Springboks v New Zealand (DHL Stadium, Cape Town)
Saturday, 21 September: Argentina v SA (venue TBC)
Saturday, 28 September: Springboks v Argentina (Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit)