Vermeulen likely to be captain if Etzebeth's leg doesn't heal

A week ago Duane Vermeulen was not part of the Springboks' tour plans but he may end up captaining them against Italy on Saturday.

Captain Eben Etzebeth suffered an injury that forced him off the field with quarter of an hour to go against France. The next man in line for the armband, Siya Kolisi, is returning home for the birth of his next child.

Vermeulen, who was on Sunday last week summoned from Toulon to replace prop Coenie Oosthuizen, found himself in the starting team against France in the place of concussed utility forward Pieter-Steph du Toit.

The extent of Etzebeth's injury was not clear.

"Lower part of the leg," was all coach Allister Coetzee said before confirming Etzebeth will have a scan done on Sunday. The lock sustained the injury when he got tackled in the build up to Jesse Kriel's try that helped South Africa overcome France 18-17.

Vermeulen played down his role as stand-in captain. "I don't know why they said I should take the captaincy. There are players who are capable of doing it. We hope Eben will be ready for Italy next week."

The Boks showed character in holding out France in the closing stages but Vermeulen was forthright about the performance.

"It wasn't pretty. It wasn't a great win. We had to graft until the end and it could have gone either way. Given what happened last weekend [against Ireland] this was a good comeback. They responded well."