Defending champions have injury concerns

South Africa are set to be without lock Victor Matfield and centre Jean de Villiers for their second World Cup Pool D match with Fiji on Saturday, the defending champions have said.

Matfield and De Villiers will each be out for around 10 days after coming off with a hamstring and rib injury, respectively, during yesterday’s 17-16 opening defeat of Wales in Wellington.

The news comes as a further blow to the Springboks, who could yet be forced to replace lock Bakkies Botha due to his struggles with an Achilles problem.

South Africa team doctor Craig Roberts said today: “Bakkies hasn’t responded as well as we anticipated, but we are still working on it and we haven’t made a decision as to how we’re going to deal him at this stage.”

Asked when he will have to decide on whether to replace Botha, South Africa coach Peter de Villiers said: “Sooner rather than later.”