Etzebeth says he's fine as major Boks ticked in Provence

Etzebeth says he's fine as major Boks ticked in Provence

Though there was concern the Springboks' 18-3 win over Scotland in their Rugby World Cup opener in Marseille had come at terrible cost, star lock Eben Etzebeth allayed fears about the seriousness of his shoulder injury.

Etzebeth departing the scene after just 26 minutes would have brought about a fresh bout of post-Sunday lunch indigestion. He will subject the knock to more specialised interrogation on Monday but the player capped 114 times does not believe the injury is serious.

“We'll go for scans tomorrow but I don't think it is too bad,” said Etzebeth who went on to explain he got injured when he carried the ball into Scotland's defence."

Malcolm Marx also left the field, though in his case momentarily with a head wound that required three stitches. He is raring to go.

It all means a significant box was ticked by the Springboks as they launched the defence of their World Cup crown with a hard-earned win on Sunday.

Though a powerful performance in the way they secured possession and territory they did not quite enjoy the dominance on the scoreboard commensurate with their effort.


The Boks held 59% of the possession and 54% of the territory, though it felt like they spent more time in Scotland's half. Crucially they bashed their way over the gainline twice the number of times Scotland did.

In that regard, Pieter-Steph du Toit is looking more and more like the man who was named the sport's best player in 2019, Franco Mostert was equally forceful in charging it up, while both relentlessly harassed and hounded the opposition when the Boks didn't have the ball. Jasper Wiese delivered arguably his best performance of the year with a Bok on his jersey.


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