After the departure of JP Pietersen and Andries Bekker from the Springbok camp due to injury, came the news that Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw and Bryan Habana are also battling injuries.

The trio of Bulls stars are busy working with doctor Craig Roberts on their rehabilitation, with Botha carrying a knee injury, Habana having a groin niggle and Rossouw working on his conditioning following a mild hamstring strain he suffered before coming to Australia.

But with coach Peter de Villiers needing to find replacements for Pietersen and Bekker in the match-day 22 for Saturday’s test in Brisbane, there is some trepidation in the camp.

“The Bakkies injury is more of a worry than anything else, especially since Danie is fit but hasn’t played for a while. We haven’t used him a lot and we’ll have to see whether he can be an 80-minute player,” De Villiers said on Monday.

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It seems that the Sharks have paid a dear price for their impressive Super 14 victory of 35 -14 over the Brumbies in Durban over the weekend.  Despite being top of the log now, Springbok winger JP Pietersen have picked up a calf injury.

Pietersen damaged his calf in the bonus-point victory over the Brumbies and is a doubtful starter for the Sharks’ Week Eight encounter with the ever-improving Hurricanes in Durban this coming Saturday.

Sharks coach John Plumtree said that the medical staff will monitor Pietersen this week and he remains “hopeful” that the Bok flyer will recover in time for the encounter with the Hurricanes.

Should Pietersen be ruled out, he will join a Sharks casualty list that also include fellow World Cup winner Ruan Pienaar, burly flank Jean Deysel and lock Allistair Hargreaves.

Pienaar, who injured his knee in the Week Five loss to the Reds, will hopefully return to action in Week 12 – when the Sharks come off their bye to play the Highlanders.

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