Initially, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer was trying to fill the gaping void left by Jaque Fourie at outside centre, but now his midfield problems have gone septic following a hospital ward's worth of injuries.
When Meyer took over the Bok job in 2012, Fourie's unavailability at the time due to his Japanese club commitments sparked a protracted search for a replacement.
Fourie might be back after availing himself for test rugby for a second time in four years, this time returning from retirement, but he is one of five centres out of a total of seven in the current 49-men Bok squad who are either injured or desperately need conditioning.
And after missing part of the Japan Top League with injury, Bok team doctor Craig Roberts said: "We have Jaque Fourie on our conditioning list because he hasn't played for a while and he needs quite a bit of conditioning. He is not going to be considered for the first couple of games unless he shows that he is where we want him from a conditioning perspective."
It means going into the season-opener against the World XV in two weeks and possibly against the Wallabies in Brisbane a week later, Meyer's options are the fit and in-form Damian de Allende and the chunky off-form JP Pietersen for midfield. At a push, captain Jean de Villiers, who ran in a Bok training jersey for the first time in seven months on Monday, could be available.
Lionel Mapoe, Jan Serfontein and Frans Steyn are all out of action, the latter for two months.
"You need the players there even if they are injured," said Meyer.
"Jaque has been injured and he hasn't played much at his club and he only started training now.
"If he's good enough, he'll get game time in the last two games. You also want to build combinations ahead of the World Cup."
Meyer has a midfield conundrum
Initially, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer was trying to fill the gaping void left by Jaque Fourie at outside centre, but now his midfield problems have gone septic following a hospital ward's worth of injuries.
When Meyer took over the Bok job in 2012, Fourie's unavailability at the time due to his Japanese club commitments sparked a protracted search for a replacement.
Fourie might be back after availing himself for test rugby for a second time in four years, this time returning from retirement, but he is one of five centres out of a total of seven in the current 49-men Bok squad who are either injured or desperately need conditioning.
And after missing part of the Japan Top League with injury, Bok team doctor Craig Roberts said: "We have Jaque Fourie on our conditioning list because he hasn't played for a while and he needs quite a bit of conditioning. He is not going to be considered for the first couple of games unless he shows that he is where we want him from a conditioning perspective."
It means going into the season-opener against the World XV in two weeks and possibly against the Wallabies in Brisbane a week later, Meyer's options are the fit and in-form Damian de Allende and the chunky off-form JP Pietersen for midfield. At a push, captain Jean de Villiers, who ran in a Bok training jersey for the first time in seven months on Monday, could be available.
Lionel Mapoe, Jan Serfontein and Frans Steyn are all out of action, the latter for two months.
"You need the players there even if they are injured," said Meyer.
"Jaque has been injured and he hasn't played much at his club and he only started training now.
"If he's good enough, he'll get game time in the last two games. You also want to build combinations ahead of the World Cup."
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