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By Ashfak Mohamed
Schalk Burger says the Stormers are not concerned that controversial former New Zealand referee Steve Walsh, who "now claims to be Australian", will impact negatively on his team's chances of beating the Hurricanes in their Super 14 clash at Newlands on Saturday.
Walsh is at the centre of a storm in South Africa surrounding his decision to firstly give Lions tighthead Kevin Buys a yellow card last week in their match against the Brumbies in Canberra, then winking at the Brumbies forwards at the next scrum.
He has been notorious for blowing in favour of opposition teams against South African sides, and will again be under scrutiny on Saturday.
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But Burger said on Wednesday the Stormers are not going to be sidetracked.
"I don't worry too much about Steve Walsh. We just want to do our thing," he said. "We can't worry about such things. Steve now claims to be Australian, I think. So hopefully a few calls can go in our favour!"
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee echoed his captain's thoughts. "The most important thing for me about the guy officiating in the game is that we adapt to the ref. We do follow trends, but the players are doing well in adapting. It doesn't matter who the ref is."
Coetzee said that his players would gain a lot of confidence from having a virtually unchanged line-up.
He made only one change to his team on Wednesday, bringing back fit-again Tiaan Liebenberg in place of Deon Fourie at hooker, and resisting the temptation to reinstate Gio Aplon at right wing instead of Fijian Sireli Naqelevuki.
Aplon played off the bench last week after recovering from flu, but Coetzee said Naqelevuki had done enough to stay in the team.
"Tiaan Liebenberg played well since the start of the competition, and it is also good to have him back to start against the Hurricanes."
Stormers: Joe Pietersen; Sireli Naqelevuki, Jaque Fourie, Juan de Jongh, Bryan Habana; Peter Grant, Dewaldt Duvenage; Duane Vermeulen, Francois Louw, Schalk Burger (capt); Andries Bekker, Anton van Zyl; Brok Harris, Tiaan Liebenberg, Wicus Blaauw. Replacements: Deon Fourie, JC Kritzinger, De Kock Steenkamp, Pieter Louw, Ricky Januarie, Lionel Cronjé, Gio Aplon.
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This article was originally published on page 18 of The Star on March 11, 2010
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