Bok coach Nienaber expects to have Reinach back in action next month

Springbok scrumhalf Cobus Reinach is well on the road to recovery.

Reinach of Montpellier missed last month's 2-1 series win over Wales due to a shoulder injury, but he has started individual and non-contact training, according to Springbok coach Jacques Nianaber.

“He has only returned to individual training now,” Nienaber said at the team’s training base in Mbombela t as they stepped up preparations for the Rugby Championship clash against New Zealand at the Mbombela Stadium.

“He is slowly being introduced back into rugby but not contact yet. He will go through level one contact introduction, move to level two and then level three in the coming weeks.

“He has to go through all that but he has been cleared surgically. Medical people are happy with how the surgery went and how the healing took place. From now it is to introduce him back to rugby and into contact.”

Nienaber said he expects Reinach to be back in action next month during the back-to-back Rugby Championship matches against Australia down under.

“If everything goes according to plan in terms of returning him back into contact and he passes every marker, I think the first time he will be technically up for selection will be against Australia.

“I am not sure if it will be first or the second game, but it will be one of those two games if there are no hiccups or he struggles with something from a medical point of view.

“From a rugby point of view, I think he has done a lot of fitness work. If you haven’t played for a while it takes some time to get back into shape especially for 9s and 10s.

“You can expect delays to get back into the swing of things from decision-makers in the form of 9s and 10s if they haven’t played for two to three games.”

The other player in the current Bok squad also working on his return to play protocols is veteran No 8 Duane Vermeulen of Irish side Ulster following a recent knee injury.