Vodacom Bulls head coach Phiwe Nomlomu as well as Hollywood Sharks coach John Plumtree expressed their concerns of the number of injuries in their camps which could prove challenging to name a competitive squad for the weekend's Carling Currie Cup semi-final to be hosted in Pretoria at 17:00.
Phiwe Nomlomo confirmed that the Bulls will be without veteran centre Harold Vorster after the centre suffered a fractured nose over the weekend, adding to a lengthy injury list.
The Bulls are also waiting to hear from SA Rugby over which of their players will be called up for the Springboks’ tour of Argentina.
“We have moved on from where we were and now up to 20 players are unavailable for selection because of injuries. You take out the Boks and we are left with what we are left with,” Nomlomo said.
“We will hear on Tuesday. We are not too sure who they are calling up from us. So we will only name our team internally tomorrow. We are waiting to hear about that.”
Sharks coach John Plumtree said he was ‘disappointed’ to lose several players to injuries against the Bulls this past weekend.
The Sharks listed a lengthy injury list with the announcement of the team that would face the Vodacom Bulls on Sunday.
Andre Esterhuizen, Braam Reyneke, Dan Jooste, Diego Appollis, Eduan Keyter, Hakeem Kunene, Ig Prinsloo, Jannes Potgieter, Jason Jenkins, Jean Smith, Khwezi Mona, Marnus Potgieter, Siya Ngiza, Thomas Dyer, Tian Meyer, Tinotenda Mavesere and Yaw Penxe was listed.
He also confirmed Springbok prop Ruan Dreyer suffered a calf injury just minutes after coming on at the start of the second half while replacement Jaco Williams, who came on for Jurenzo Julius in the 31st minute, did not make it past half-time. He is struggling with a groin injury.
SA U20 star, Jurenzo Julius failed a head injury assessment just before the end of the first half and will be going through a return-to-play protocol this week.
Plumtree said the Sharks are hoping for a speedy recovery of Sunday's injuries but said that the Sharks are looking forward to the return fixture against the Bulls.