South Africa No.8 Pierre Spies will miss the entire Rugby Championship with a finger injury he picked up in Super Rugby action last month.
Forward will not play a part in inaugural four-nations tournament
South Africa No.8 Pierre Spies will miss the entire Rugby Championship with a finger injury.
Spies, 27, fractured a joint in his left ring finger playing for Northern Bulls against Canterbury Crusaders in a Super Rugby play-off in New Zealand last month, but the injury was not initially detected.
"Surgical correction is needed in order to prevent permanent damage. The usual rehabilitation time for these kinds of injuries is eight to 12 weeks," South Africa team doctor Craig Roberts said in a statement.
That means Spies, who made his 50th Test appearance last June against England in Port Elizabeth, will take no part in a competition that finishes on October 6 when the Springboks meet New Zealand in Soweto.
South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer said Spies would not be replaced immediately. "We have faith in the players in the squad and will consider the call-up of a possible replacement at a later stage," said Meyer.
"Losing Pierre is obviously a setback, because he is the most experienced member of our forward pack, but we will never take any risks with injured players."
Keegan Daniel, Marcell Coetzee, Willem Alberts, Jacques Potgieter and Siya Kolisi are the remaining loose forwards in the Springbok squad.
South Africa play debutants Argentina in Cape Town on Saturday in the first round of the new southern hemisphere competition, which also features Tri-Nations champions Australia and world champions New Zealand.
