21 year old Springbok flank Arno Botha has been ruled out of the rest of the season after rupturing ligaments in his knee against Scotland in Nelspruit.
The young Bulls gun was forced off the field in his second cap after just 4 minutes of play and scans on the injury yesterday confirmed damage to his medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments.
“Losing Arno is a big blow as he had a very good Test debut last weekend against Italy, Luckily he is still very young and I’m sure with the correct medical treatment and rehabilitation we will see him back on the field again in 2014.” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer.
No replacement has been called yet for Botha as Meyer believes that they have good strength in depth at this position.
“We do have good cover at loose forward – Siya Kolisi, Marcell Coetzee and Pieter Labuschagne are all capable replacements. Furthermore Francois Louw is back tomorrow and Willem Alberts has responded well to treatment and will probably in the frame for selection this week,” said Meyer.
MM