Francois Louw is out of the Rugby Championship after getting injured in the All Blacks and Springboks clash in Wellington. The injury occurred when Richie McCaw smashed into him at a ruck, causing some debate amongst fans and pundits.
Bob Skinstad and Nick Mallett discussed this, and other points, on Boots & All in South Africa in the week after the match. They weren’t fully condemning what McCaw did, but did hint that it should have been at least looked at by the officials.
Louw fell to the floor immediately and wasn’t part of play for the next few minutes, which led to the McCaw try in the corner after that wonderful bit of skill from number eight Kieran Read.
The Springbok flanker has since been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament, as the collision caused a pinched nerve in his neck.
Schalk Burger has been called into the squad as a replacement, heading over to Cape Town after playing for his Japanese club, Suntory. The 71 times capped flanker will continue his Test comeback after being out of the game for two years with injury and illness.
The video below shows the incident that brought about the change in the Bok set-up. There are some interesting points made, but overall we’re sharing it as there were requests and discussion about it via social media since the match took place.
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