Handré Pollard suffered a calf injury in Wednesday's team training session that forced him out of the Springbok matchday squad for Saturday's second Test against the All Blacks in Cape Town, with assistant coach Mzwandile Stick revealing the fly-half was visibly emotional after the setback.
"At that moment in the training sessions, I could see he was going through tears," Stick told reporters. "It's a sad thing to lose a player that way; he's been in good shape, he has been working very hard even when he was not in the matchday 23, and he has been positive and trying to assist the guys."
Stick declined to put a timeline on Pollard's return, noting the fly-half had undergone further testing following the injury. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu steps up to replace him in the run-on side, with Manie Libbok — initially omitted from the extended squad entirely — returning to the bench as a result.
Cheslin Kolbe's reinstatement at the expense of Kurt-Lee Arendse is the other significant change from the initial squad announced on Monday. Both wingers were withdrawn during the 33-16 defeat at Ellis Park, but Arendse was named in the starting side before Kolbe was cleared to train fully.
"Our team policy is that if a player can train fully on a Monday, there's no reason not to select him, and Cheslin did that and went well through the week," Stick explained, adding that an incomplete medical report on Kolbe at the time of Sunday's selection meeting was the reason he was initially left out.