Lukhanyo Am is in contention to make his return for the Springboks in a potential World Cup quarter-final, assistant coach Felix Jones has confirmed.
Am was called into the World Cup squad after Makazole Mapimpi suffered a facial bone fracture in South Africa’s final pool match against Tonga, which ruled the winger out of the tournament.
The outside centre was left out of the original 33-player squad due to a troublesome knee injury, but looks set to be ready to return to play if the Springboks progress to the World Cup quarter-finals.
“Lukhanyo’s going to arrive today, shortly. He’ll probably do some light field work,” Bok assistant coach Jones said on Wednesday.
“Anyone in the squad is going to put their hand up for contention. We’ll see how he rocks up and how he performs in training over the next two weeks.
“Lukhanyo will come in and definitely contend for a centre position. He’ll be considered just as much as anyone else and we’ll base a lot of it on what happens in training and also consider what’s gone on in the games prior to this.”
Am last played for the Springboks in the first World Cup warm-up match against Argentina in Buenos Aires, but was substituted at half time due to his injury.
Jones is confident that despite Am’s recent lack of game time, the midfielder will cope with being thrown into the fire of a World Cup playoff.
“Luckily for us Lukhanyo is quite an experienced player and has been a part of the group for many years now. I think probably everyone will agree that when Lukhanyo is at his best he can slot into almost any team.
“It’s not that long since Lukhanyo was actually with us. I think the last game was Argentina away in Buenos Aires. That’s not that long ago, it’s only five or six test matches ago.
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“Lukhanyo was actually involved in all of our alignment camps, all of our training sessions, up to the point of us pretty much leaving for the World Cup, or the week or two before.
“He’ll be fully up to speed with how things are going here.”
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images