Wales vs South Africa: Injured Cheslin Kolbe misses World Cup semi-final in huge blow to Springboks

Key absentee: Cheslin Kolbe will not feature for South Africa against Wales this weekend
AFP via Getty Images

South Africa winger Cheslin Kolbe will miss the World Cup semi-final against Wales on Sunday due to an ankle injury.

S’bu Nkosi replaces Kolbe in the only change from the Springboks lineup that dispatched Japan in the quarter-final.

Star wing Kolbe picked up the injury against Italy in the pool stage and, after missing the win over Canada, aggravated his ankle against Japan last weekend.

“It is a big blow. Everybody knows the quality of player he is, and the contribution he has made,” said South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus.

“But if we looked purely at his performance in the previous game, his ankle definitely had an influence on his performance.

“We just feel a fully fit S’bu and the way S’bu has been performing, if you compare the two, a 70 per cent Cheslin isn’t better than a 100 per cent S’bu.

“So, it is a blow, but we have full confidence in S’bu, especially with the way he has been playing. He certainly deserves his chance.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in