Skinstad comes home

Bok captain Bob Skinstad is out of rugby for at least six weeks after injuring a rib in his side’s defeat to Australia in Sydney on Saturday.

He left the field clutching his side after being buried at the bottom of a loose maul. In the post-match interview he said that he had injured a rib but that it didn’t feel too bad.

A scan was taken in the changing rooms – it revealed that his rib cartilage had separated from the bone. Skinstad was put on a plane back to South Africa this evening.

“I’ll have to go home and see what the extent of the damage is. It’s a pretty rudimentary scan in the dressing room but you see there’s a break there. I’m not sure how it happened – it was a loose maul and I think I got one of the fatties landing on me – it wasn’t a cleaning out or that anyone in particular was to blame,” said Skinstad.

He is expected to be out for at least six weeks and a replacement will be flown to New Zealand on Monday. Wickus van Heerden is likely to take over the captaincy.