Losing to Wales in the final test match of the Autumn series wasn’t the only bad news South Africa had to endure: Jean de Villiers dislocating his kneecap quite badly in the match after landing badly and having a few other big men land on it as well.
The 31-year old centre who has been capped for the Springboks 105 times was battling for ball position when he was pulled from behind while his left leg wasn’t positioned too strongly on the turf. It resulted in him twisting the lower half of it while crashing down, his screams heard quite well in the stadium and through the TV screens.
With the World Cup in less than a year, it’s now a race against time for both him and South Africa to hope & try to get him ready. It’s still not quite clear the severity of the injury: Career-ending one, reconstructive type or something less serious, which means less time for recovery and a better chance of him being ready in time to play.
In the match itself Wales won 12-6. Leigh Halfpenny scored four penalties to give Wales their first win over one of the Southern Hemisphere traditional powers since 2008 after 22 consecutive defeats, and only their second win against South Africa in the last 30 matches.