Boks' World Cup plans suffer setback

Springbok hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle faces a fight to be ready for this year's World Cup tournament after a secondary scan revealed extensive cruciate ligament damage in his right knee.

Ralepelle is out for at least four to six months, making him a borderline case for selection for this year's World Cup tournament and complicating Springbok coach Jake White's plans for the tournament.

The former Pretoria Boys' High School pupil, who led the Springbok XV against a World XV in Leicester in December last year, has had a horror start to this year through injuries and the latest news could not have come at a worse time.

The Bulls had been hoping for a positive outcome from the scan so that he could even still join the team in Australasia.

An initial arthroscopy could not clearly determine the damage to the knee ligament because of the swelling from the way Ralepelle twisted the joint at training a fortnight ago.

The scan was done last week, and the Bulls revealed on Monday that Ralepelle would be out of action for between four and six months.

The worst case scenario would see him to making a return only around September, the month in which the World Cup tournament begins in France.

Ralepelle will be hoping for an earlier recovery and that the national coach believes it is not too much of a risk to play him with so little match practice ahead of the tournament.

National forwards coach Gert Smal admitted that Ralepelle's injury was a "massive setback" for the Boks' World Cup plans, but said the medical team would be doing everything possible to get him ready in time for the World Cup.

"Chiliboy was one of the stars of last season and his progress within the Springbok set-up among the highlights of the year. He is such a positive person and his contribution to the team exceptional. I believe the Bok medical team will have been in contact with him already to ensure he is on a speedy road to recovery."

Ralepelle first injured the knee in the warm-up game against the Stormers in January and was out for four weeks. He made a comeback in the Super 14 game against the Cheetahs, but was involved in a clash of heads and was out for two more weeks.

His latest injury came in a training session in a week in which he was about to return to competitive action. Ralepelle couldn't be contacted for comment on Monday.

- Meanwhile, Bulls team doctor Tommy Smook confirmed on Monday that fullback Johan Roets would not have to undergo an operation after injuring medial knee ligaments in Saturday's win over the Brumbies.

Good news is that Springbok loose forward Pierre Spies is set to return to action in the next week or two, but tighthead prop Richard Bands is still three weeks away from recovering from a torn calf muscle.