Alberts Out

Springbok loose forward Willem Alberts has been withdrawn from Saturday’s Rugby World Cup opening game against Japan after injuring his calf during the captain’s run.

Pieter-Steph du Toit will start in the number seven jersey with his place on the bench going to Eben Etzebeth.

“Willem felt some discomfort during the captain’s run and we took him out of the session as a precautionary measure,” said Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts.

“We reassessed him again this morning and decided it would be better to withdraw him from the team.”

As a result of Alberts’ withdrawal, the starting team now only has a combined total of 851 Test caps.

It is still more than the previous most experienced Springbok side (836 caps), which played in South Africa’s last Rugby World Cup match against Australia in Wellington, New Zealand in 2011.