try. He scored his second and final try of the tournament against New Zealand. During the 2010 Currie Cup final, which lost to the Sharks 30–10, Burger suffered a broken rib. However, he was not substituted during the match, and also scored Western Province's only try. Scans after the game revealed the injury, which would force Burger to miss the 2010 end-of-year rugby union tests against the Home Unions. 2011 – Rugby World Cup Burger was selected for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He played the first game against Wales which South Africa won 17–16. He played all the matches in group D. South Africa were knocked out however in the Quarter Finals against Australia. He was ruled out of South Africa's Summer tour of England with injury. In November at the end-of-year awards ceremony in Johannesburg, Burger was named the SARU's Player of the Year for the second time, becoming the fifth Springbok to win the award more than once. 2012–13 Over the following two seasons, Burger struggled with injury and illness. During preparations for the 2013 Super Rugby season, Burger pulled up during a running exercise after experiencing spasms in his left calf. A back scan revealed a cyst next to his spinal cord impacting the nerve which influenced the calf muscle's performance, and he underwent an operation to drain the cyst and relieve pressure on the nerve. It was thought at the time that Burger would miss at least the first three weeks of the season. However, severe complications followed. During the initial operation, Burger contracted a hospital bug, which resulted in bacterial meningitis. At one stage during the isolation period, Burger's condition became so serious that there were genuine fears for his life. After his situation had improved, he then had to endure a series of operations to remove the cyst completely. In total, Burger would spend six weeks in hospital and a further eight weeks recovering indoors. Burger resumed training at the end of July, but was reluctant to set a definite return date: To give a timeline is quite difficult... I certainly don't want to over-commit. The good news is that I can start to train properly and get the heart-rate up. That, in itself, is exciting news and I look forward to increasing my training schedule over the next few weeks with the help of the strength and conditioning team at WP Rugby.