Boks lose Botha

Monday, October 01, 2007 9:34am

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Prop BJ Botha looks likely to miss the remainder of South Africa's Rugby World Cup campaign after suffering knee ligament damage against the USA.

The front-row forward found himself at the base of a ruck during the Springboks' 64-15 victory over the Americans in their final pool match yesterday.

Botha left the field complaining of severe discomfort in the joint and head coach Jake White has admitted he fears the worst for the player, who is one of only a limited number of specialists at his position.

"I'm hoping it's not too serious but when you have only five props you don't have too many of those guys around," he said.

White said a full assessment of the injury would be made today and ruled out calling up a replacement front row until the results of the scans had been fully reviewed.

However, he added: "It doesn't look too good. I think BJ is going to be ruled out.

"A decision has to be made whether he requires surgery."

South Africa captain and hooker John Smit, who has played alongside Botha at the head of the pack in the tournament so far, described the loss of Botha as "disruptive".

"Everyone has watched BJ over the last few years and since making his Test debut we've realised what an impact he makes – not only in the scrum, but his workrate is excellent in that he makes a lot of tackles," he said.

"We'll be hard-pressed to replace him with someone who works as hard."