Western Province Head Coach Allister Coetzee has confirmed that Springbok lock Andries Bekker is set to undergo surgery on his back.

The massive second row will have back surgery this week after suffering a recurrence of an old back injury during the Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks in Wellington two weekends ago.

The 26-year-old is set to be out for four months, ruling him out of the rest of the Tri-Nations, Currie Cup and the Boks end-of-year tour to Europe.

"Fortunately, it is not a career-threatening or big operation that he is going to undergo," said Coetzee at a press conference.

"He will be back for the Super 15 next year. It is just a recurrence of an old back injury and it is the right time to have it sorted out."

Meanwhile, another of WP's returning Springboks, flank Francois Louw has been given a rest after having taken on a heavy workload during the Super 14 and four Test matches.

"After a careful assessment, Flo needs to be rested. He has played throughout the season with a couple of niggles and he never really had a break," added Coetzee.

"After the Super 14 final, he went straight into the Springbok team for the Wales Test the next weekend, and then he played against France and twice against Italy. Then he went straight into the Tri-Nations.

"So, I think it is just fair to give Flo a week's break. It is just these couple of days and he will be back at training on Monday."

Good news for Province however is the return from the national camp of backs Gio Aplon and Juan De Jongh.

Both will start for WP in Friday's Currie Cup fixture against the Pumas after playing only minor roles in the Tri-Nations so far.

"Gio Aplon and Juan de Jongh are hungry to play for Province. They have also been medically cleared. They are quality players, and whenever they turned up for the Boks, you could see that they are in the process of becoming world-class players," said Coetzee.

planetrugby.com

28/07/2010