Fears grow over Emiliano Boffelli as Edinburgh Rugby full-back is ruled out of tour

Sean Everitt, the Edinburgh coach, has expressed concern and sympathy for Emiliano Boffelli after the full-back was again laid low by a back problem that has been plaguing for the last two seasons.

The Argentina international was due to make his competitive comeback in Friday night’s United Rugby Championship opener against Leinster but had to pull out before kick-off. He had been due to start the game on the bench after playing 40 minutes of the previous week’s pre-season friendly against Gloucester.

Boffelli, 29, underwent a surgical procedure in the summer after a nerve issue in his back caused him to miss much of the last domestic season. He played just seven times for Edinburgh over the course of the campaign, the last time being the win over Cardiff on April 27.

Emiliano Boffelli will not travel to South Africa with the Edinburgh squad. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Edinburgh are flying to South Africa this weekend for matches against the Vodacom Bulls and Emirates Lions in rounds two and three of the URC but Boffelli will remain in Scotland to see specialists.

“I think for me it's more of a worry about the individual,” said Everitt. “The individual comes first at Edinburgh so we just hope that it's not too serious and that he gets over this issue that he's been struggling with for some time now. It hasn't only been the last 12 months, it's been probably over the last 24 months.

“He’ll be seeing the experts next week and then we'll take it from there. He’s definitely a no for South Africa.”

Everitt has named a 29-man squad for the two-week tour to Pretoria and Johannesburg and Matt Currie is included. The centre had to come off in the first half of Friday’s 33-31 defeat by Leinster with a hamstring issue but will travel to South Africa.

Edinburgh face the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 2pm BST / 3pm local) before taking on the Lions at Emirates Airlines Park on October 5 (12.45pm BST / 1.45pm local). Everitt has set his sights high for the mini-tour after Edinburgh lost both matches - to the Sharks and Stormers - in South Africa last season.

“Success on the trip will be beating the Bulls at Loftus and beating the Lions at Ellis Park and we set ourselves those goals,” said the coach. “We want to achieve high and for us to be able to finish where we want to finish, those are the teams we've got to beat. We learned from our trip to South Africa last year that it cost us dearly. We came home from both games with no points.”

Everitt felt the performance against Leinster on Friday showed signs of improvement as Edinburgh picked up two losing points, despite the defeat.

“Last year we played against Leinster and everyone called Leinster a B team at that stage. We got no points out of it. This time we got two and if we can bring home eight [from South Africa] that would be fantastic for us.”

Edinburgh Rugby touring squad to South Africa

Forwards: Pierre Schoeman, Boan Venter, Paul Hill, D’Arcy Rae, Javan Sabastian, Dave Cherry, Ewan Ashman, Paddy Harrison, Grant Gilchrist, Marshall Sykes, Jamie Hodgson, Jamie Ritchie, Ben Muncaster, Tom Dodd, Magnus Bradbury, Hamish Watson.

Backs: Ben Vellacott, Ali Price, Charlie Shiel, Ross Thompson, Ben Healy, Matt Scott, Matt Currie, Mark Bennett, Mosese Tuipulotu, Ross McCann, Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe, Wes Goosen.