Etzebeth was concussed and had to leave the field after half an hour of South Africa’s 37-21 defeat to England at Twickenham at the weekend.
Coach Allister Coetzee has confirmed that Etzebeth will be unavailable for the Italy game, but there has been no mention of him leaving the tour, so it can be assumed that the Boks are hoping he will be fit to face the Welsh seven days later.
Coetzee said no replacement will be called from South Africa to cover for Etzebeth against Italy as there is sufficient lock cover in the squad.
Pieter-Steph du Toit played blindside flank against England but is normally a lock, and Lood de Jager, who wore the No 5 at Twickenham, is usually a No 4 lock anyway.
Franco Mostert, who came onto the field as a replacement for Etzebeth in London, can provide cover, while both Willem Alberts and Oupa Mohoje are loose-forwards who have had experience of playing in the second row.
It is likely that the Boks will start with De Jager and Du Toit as their second row combination in Florence, with Mohoje returning to the blindside flank and Mostert continuing on the replacements bench.
However, the team will only be announced on Thursday.
The Boks had their loose-forward options bolstered when they arrived in Italy as they were joined by Cheetahs flanker Uzair Cassiem, who will enter the equation as a possible openside flank selection.
Cassiem flew back to South Africa after the game against the Barbarians but was called back when Roelof Smit injured himself in training last week.
Bryan Habana missed the England test because of injury but was back in training on Monday.
It will be interesting to see if Habana is selected for Saturday for as the Boks continue to falter the point of playing veterans who probably won’t be at the next World Cup becomes more and more questionable.
Coetzee is going to come under increasing pressure to blood youngsters like Jamba Ulengo, and rightly so.
