In a blow to both the Stormers and the Springboks, Andries Bekker has been ruled out of rugby for 5 weeks, which means he will miss the crucial Bulls clash this weekend, as well as the entire Springbok series against England. Bekker is one of four changes to the Stormers side for their match against the Bulls this Saturday.
Joe Pietersen will also miss the Bulls clash due to injury, with Siya Kolisi back at the side of the scrum and Frans Malherbe getting a start ahead of Brok Harris, with Deon Carstens replacing Steven Kitshoff as expected.
De Kock Steenkamp replaces Bekker in the second row, in a shuffled tight five, while Quinn Roux comes onto the bench as second row cover. Both Don Armand and Nick Fenton-Wells cover the loose forwards.
Stormers: 15. Gio Aplon, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Jean de Villiers (captain), 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Peter Grant, 9. Dewaldt Duvenage, 8. Jebb Sinclair, 7. Rynhardt Elstadt, 6. Siya Kolisi, 5. De Kock Steenkamp, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Tiaan Liebenberg, 1. Deon Carstens
Substitutes: 16. Deon Fourie, 17 Brok Harris, 18. Quinn Roux, 19. Don Armand, 20. Nick Fenton-Wells, 21. Louis Schreuder, 22. Burton Francis
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Jebb Sinclair… ha ha
I’ll be the first to say it: The Stormers are screwed!! 🙄 😯
Maybe time for Meyer to look at Johann Muller as a backup lock for the Boks?
@wpw (Comment 2) : Big Dries “Away Game” Bekker – the Man of Glass
Bad news for the Boks. Fingers crossed no injurys this weekend
Nee donder, what the hell is going on in Cape Town.
These guys have had the absolute best schedule as far as their bye weekends go and yet all look fatigued and are breaking down at alarming rates.
Well, at least they have Kolisi back. I’m really looking forward to this match.
I can’t yet decide what result will be best for the Sharks, but I just know I want the Bulls to lose.
@robdylan (Comment 4) : Im sure he played against us while injured – if so then Stormers coaching / medical staff need to man up and stop playing players into the ground.
I hear they are putting up notice boards all over Cape province with the slogan
“This is a Curry-Cup-free zone”
@Salmonoid (Comment 6) :
Really two reasons i feel
1) Lack of rotation –
Bekker agaisnt the Force was clearly carrying an injury, he kept falling down and an icepack was brought every little while, you could see then he wasnt right.
2) Gameplan predicated on defence
Clearly it is important to have an excellent defence, but you cannot play the volume of games and make something like 150-200 tackles each game without it having some effect on players bodies.
I dont understand their emphasis on defence, or the Bulls kick chase philosophy being the bulk of the gamplan. Surely it is better to have a balanced all round approach, sure use kick chase when the situation allows, of course there needs to be a strong defence but these should be components of an all round gameplan not the primary ingredient.
@Pat (Comment 10) : I also thought that Estebet was starting to look tentative when taking the ball into contact against the Sharks, and that was from early on in the game already.
No wonder Dawie Theron insisted on getting Kitshof, despite all the nice agreements he had with Alister.
@Pat (Comment 10) : You know the Sharks make way more tackles than the Stormers – so that does not really explain the injuries
@Bokhoring (Comment 13) : If that was the case Marcel and Bresler should have been crocked and tentative by now
@Salmonoid (Comment 12) : Bekker was over played in 2011 and missed the world cup. Why do the stormers not rotate their players?
@Salmonoid (Comment 6) :
Dude, you do NOT want to hear the latest quotes from Allister!!
They haven’t managed our players well. 👿
‘I’ve done the best I can to manage Andries, and I’m sure he will be the first to say so. He hurt his back again after that game against the Crusaders, and we managed him carefully from there. He hasn’t played for all 80 minutes in a match this season, and we have also not expected him to take part in every training session.’
Saw this coming… He’s been battling with his back every game… Looks like it’s Juandre Kruger’s time to shine… Or will we see Bakkies and Danie back in the Bok Jersey one last time…
@slammerboy (Comment 15) :
Because their coaches are a bunch of idiots?? 🙄
Another quote:
“According to our medical team he will only be reassessed again in five weeks,’ said Coetzee. ‘He had a back operation last year and we’ve tried to manage him this season but unfortunately he can no longer cope with the workload.”
@wpw (Comment 19) : unfortunately he can no longer cope with the workload
AND WHO THE DONNER GAVE HIM THAT WORKLOAD IN THE FIRST PLACE??? 👿 👿 👿
Bad for the Boks, but not so much for the Stormers methinks. Five weeks out should mean he’ll miss just 2 SR games and one of them should be a walkover anyway.
Great to see Malherbe starting ahead of Harris. Come on boys, just get through this one, then it’s a nice break before finishing off with a few easy ones.
@Leviathan (Comment 21) : very bad for the Boks
Not Meyer will pair 2 debutants in Kruger and Flip for the first test. Wonder if Muller will get a call up? Etzebeth also looks like he is carrying an injury.
@Leviathan (Comment 21) : The report said he will be assessed after 5 weeks – does not mean he will be back after 5
@slammerboy (Comment 22) : how is flip a debutant? 😯
So we have Kruger, van der Merwe and Etzebeth. What are our options for a number 5 backup?
Matfield and Rossouw’s returns have been ruled out. That leaves us with Johann Muller and Gerhard Mostert if we’re looking at capped players. Wilhelm Steenkamp and Anton Bresler if we’re going the uncapped route?
Am I missing anyone?
@wpw (Comment 16) : Bismark was pulled for 2 games when he picked up a niggle that Plumtree said “Bissie usually plays through” but then the medical team or physio’s said Bissie needs a proper break to get completely over the injury – look at him now.
I don’t think managing players is about giving them less game here and there, because they would still have to go through all the training. It’s about assessing whether the players needs a proper break from the game to heal a niggle or injury that is bothering them.
Keegan has played just about every minute of every game, so has Mvovo and Marcell and Sykes, but they’re doing fine, because they have been fortunate enough to stay injury or niggle free.
@Megatron (Comment 24) : oops, I should have said players with minimal experience
@vanmartin (Comment 25) : Hargreaves?
@Bokhoring (Comment 28) :
😆
Good one!!
don’t know what the pom starting lock pair has ONLY 8 caps between the two of them, that’s less than flip’s individual cap count alone. the Pom captain chris robshaw has 6 caps, 5 he has earned in this year’s 6 nations
nothing to worry about
@Letgo (Comment 7) : I think any result will help us out.
If the Stormers beat the Bulls and deny them a bonus points and IF we beat the Lions, we’ll go above the Bulls in the conference and then they can fight it out with the rest to stay in the top 6. It also adds more fuel to the game between us when we play because if we beat them, we effectively knock the Bulls out.
If the Bulls win and deny the Stormers a bonus point and we win against the Lions with a bonus point, we’ll be even with the Stormers with the Bulls a point ahead. If we beat the Bulls in the next game (for us) then we overtake them and if we can beat the Cheetahs in our last game, the chances are good that we will top the log and have a home semi or playoff spot.
So after that, the best result would probably be a non-bonus point win for the Bulls while denying the Stormers another point.
@Bokhoring (Comment 28) : The Pom locks can’t be that bad!
Bulls to win it.
@wpw (Comment 29) : I guess we should try Marius Joubert in the 5 lock berth before him 👿
@Butchie34 (Comment 31) : How about a draw without bonus points?
@vanmartin (Comment 25) : DE KOCK STEENKAMP 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
so here are my predictions:
1) Johann Muller to get called in
2) Flip van der Merwe to start ahead of Etzebeth to avoid the situation where we have 2 uncapped locks starting together.
😈 On another note: CJ is cleared to play us! 😈
@Salmonoid (Comment 35) : I don’t think a tie would help us at all. We’d overtake the Bulls probably… but we would do that anyway if we can beat them in our fixture. The main thing that we need to do is overhaul the Stormers and if they get points it’ll make it harder for us to reel them in.
If the Stormers get no points and the Sharks get 5 points against the Lions we’ll be equal on points with them. The bye means that we get those 4 points for jam and with the Stormers inability to score bonus points means that we need to haul them in now and hope their try scoring woes continue with their last three games. If we can equalise with them now and win our remaining games and get one bonus point more than the Stormers we’ll win the conference and have a guaranteed home play-off/semi.
@robdylan (Comment 37) : I was thinking the same thing. Meyer is too conservative to have an uncapped partnership in an international arena. Etzebeth might make it to the bench now, but he won’t start.
This will mean Spies will def be at 8 becuase he adds an extra line out option and he has been under Matfields wing for a while now.
4.Flip
5.Kruger
6.? my bet Kankowski or Coetzee
7.Alberts
8.Spies
@Talent (Comment 40) : But Daniel is so much easier to lift! Heck, Beast could do it on his own! 😉
@wpw (Comment 19) : Tried to manage?!?!?!?!?!?
how many games was he rested for?
@Talent (Comment 40) : Kankowski at 6 before Brussouw?
@vanmartin (Comment 41) : Beast could probably turn Jannie Dup into a decent line out jumper 😛
@vanmartin (Comment 41) : He could lift Daniel in one hand and Botes in the other 😆
@Butchie34 (Comment 39) : True, but I think the Cheetahs are likely to beat the Stormers in Bloem and if thats the case then having both opposing teams gaining just 2 points will help us. Its month end so I dont have the time to do the math s now.
@Salmonoid (Comment 46) : Are you also in finance? Sucks for us 😉
I’m not convinced the Cheetahs will be able to beat the Stormers in Bloemfontein, especially considering that the Stormers will have Schalk, Koster and possibly Bekker for that game.
i would play alberts and etzebeth in the locks with marcell at no 7 for the boks
@jovner (Comment 48) : What about Kruger from the Bulls?
@jovner (Comment 48) :
They are both more no 4 type locks. I think Juandre Kruger would be a better bet.
@jovner (Comment 48) : who calls the lineouts?
@robdylan (Comment 51) : victoria, from the sideline
@Ice (Comment 52) : eh eh eh LOL 🙂
@robdylan (Comment 51) : let spies call the lineouts, we have enough capable jumpers, like spies, eben,marcell and even alberts can jump.don’t think the pommies have the best lineout in the world, so until andries come back, we have to manage.
@jovner (Comment 54) : right now, I will let Keegan do it…he deserves that spot so much more at the moment..
@Ice (Comment 55) : the only problem is that heyneke would never leave pierre spies out