The Springbok coach, Rassie Erasmus, has indicated he may still make a change to his team for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash against the All Blacks in Johannesburg.

The lock Eben Etzebeth wasn’t named in the 23-man squad on Tuesday after he sustained a slight meniscus injury during a scrumming session. Erasmus indicated the injury was only a niggle and the highly experienced lock was training already.

Salmaan Moerat will be back next week. Photo: Morgan Piek

Erasmus said if Etzebeth made it through the training he could be included for the crunch Test.

“It’s a meniscus – it’s just from changing one foot to the other in the scrum on his own, it’s not like someone ran onto his knee and he got a tear,” said Erasmus.

“He twisted his knee a little bit in a scrum session. Hopefully, the mechanics don’t show big trauma. I have to look at how this afternoon (Tuesday) goes and then have a chat with all the players tonight. We might make a change, because he might have miraculously recovered, and the doc says there is some science behind that, it’s not just the will to play or the occasion.

“If that’s the case, we will be too happy. It will be very unlucky for one of Marco van Staden, Elrigh Louw, and Kwagga Smith to be left out. It will be a call between the three of them. We will think clearly and see how Pieter-Steph moves and we will make the call.”

A final decision will only be made after Wednesday afternoon’s training session. Saturday’s eagerly anticipated Test between the Springboks and All Blacks at Ellis Park kicks off at 17:00.

Springboks – 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 2 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements – 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Elrigh Louw, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Handré Pollard

All Blacks – TBA 

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek  dg