Niggling injuries of the kind that needed time to heal kept six Springbok rugby players sidelined at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Tuesday evening as the World Cup squad continued with its strenuous build-up to the World Cup in France.
Sitting it out while their teammates sweated under the watchful eyes of coach Jake White, Australian Eddie Jones and team management were Bryan Habana, Wikus van Heerden, Ashwin Willemse, Francois Steyn, Danie Rossouw and the latest addition to the side, Bismarck du Plessis.
The idea was to control the volume of training so that they can recover well. The idea was not to create more problems.
The team will have two sessions of training Wednesday at the George Campbell School grounds — one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
Although he did not take an active part in the Tuesday evening run, a clearly delighted Du Plessis, the Sharks hooker, was over the moon with his late call-up to the World Cup squad as a replacement for flanker Pierre Spies, who was forced to withdraw from the trip to France because of ill health.
Du Plessis, who has come through the ranks, becomes the third hooker in the squad — something that has been deemed necessary by the Springbok management as they prepare for the World Cup — said that he had learnt of his selection at about 11am on Tuesday while he was lying on the physio bed when he was phoned by Peter Jooste with the good news.
”It was quite a thrill for me. It was a disappointment when I originally missed out on selection. After all you play to go to a World Cup as that the dream of every rugby player. Now my dream is being fulfilled and will be complete when we bring the Webb-Ellis trophy back home.
”Coming in as a hooker as a replacement for a flank has not really sunk in as yet. I have not had a chance to talk to coach Jake White as yet as it has been a busy day getting all my stuff sorted, going home and getting my clothes and everything related to the call-up. It has been quite a rush so far.
”I am sure that the coach has a very good plan in mind and I will stick with his decision.”
So far Bismarck has won two caps for the Springboks but the World Cup trip is the pinnacle of achievement thus far.
He said: ”The family in Bethlehem are very pleased. No family in the world would not be delighted if their son was rewarded with a chance to play for his country. Mine is no exception to the rule. I had no words to explain the thrill and when I phoned my dad to tell him of my selection he started crying, such was his emotion.”
Bismarck has come through the ranks and is no stranger to France, having been at the Under-19 World Cup in 2003.
He played South African schools in 2001 and 2002 and then South African under-19 while with Free State and South Africa under-21 after he had transferred to the Sharks camp. — Sapa