From The Times today (paywall):
Sale Sharks are waiting to discover if the scrum half Faf de Klerk will need surgery on a hip injury that would impact their Gallagher Premiership challenge and rule him out of South’s Africa’s autumn Tests with England, Scotland and Wales.
Alex Sanderson, the Sale director of rugby, confirmed that the 29-year-old had undergone scans on the hip he damaged in the second Test against the British & Irish Lions, although he returned for four matches in the Rugby Championship.
However, his hip pain has become a significant issue and Sanderson said: “Faf is currently undergoing assessment for his hip flexor injury, which was sustained in the Lions Test and has become more severe recently but we need to get clarity on that.
“There are concerns that it could be months but we need confirmation. We have to wait for the right assessments, otherwise it is scaremongering.
“We have had all the scans sent over. They are with the consultant in London right now and we have all his previous reports and they want to see it all before they make a decision about rehab, surgery or crack on. Those are three options.
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“I am speculating as a rugby coach and it is frustrating when someone comes back [from international duty] injured but surely there can’t be any coaches or organisations out there that set out to deliberately injure people. I don’t believe that is the case.”
Sanderson has a complicated scrum-half situation to wrestle with as he prepares to face in-form Harlequins at the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday night, with Will Cliff also injured. That puts added pressure on Raffi Quirke, the 20-year-old whose electric pace has earned him a place in the England squad. Quirke has just come back from his own injury problem and scored an excellent try in the 33-32 loss away to Gloucester on Saturday.
Sanderson added: “Will has a small injury at the moment so we are down to two [scrum halves] and that is not enough in a specialist position. There is no one of the calibre of Faf and we are jumping to conclusions here that he isn’t going to play. We [will] know about strength in depth when we have all the cards on the table.”
Sale will have Lood de Jager available for selection along with the England flanker Tom Curry but the USA captain, AJ MacGinty, may struggle to make the starting XV after his shoulder injury.
His hip surgery was reported to have "gone well," and afterwards he was able to walk on his own (with crutches).
And today is his 30th birthday, so send the lad your best wishes!
I've never heard this until now but any WR clips on YouTube have a kiwi commentator who pronounces Klerk like Cilla Black says Claire. He's pronouncing the final k as silent, as in Faf De Kler
Sorry all, I'm a yank living in the States so I cant keep up with all the news...anywho, where is Faf? I was looking forward to watch him today?
