The Stormers will be boosted by the return of Springboks Schalk Burger and Eben Etzebeth for Saturday night's Super Rugby derby against the Sharks at Newlands.
Loose forward Burger is due to report for Stormers duty today following the conclusion of the All-Japan Rugby Championship on Saturday. His team Suntory Sungoliath lost 15-3 in the final to Yamaha Jùbilo.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee said yesterday the Springbok flank will be in the mix this weekend after blindside flank Michael Rhodes suffered a knock to his knee in the tense 22-19 win over the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday night.
“Schalk is definitely in line for selection. We will check him out, what he looks like medically,” the former Eastern Province scrumhalf told the Cape Times yesterday.
Etzebeth has bided his time on the sidelines for the last couple weeks after recovering from a chest injury. Coetzee didn't want to risk his prized bullterrier by bringing him back too early, but he could be unleashed against the Sharks.
If Etzebeth starts against the Sharks, he will replace Jurie van Vuuren, who dislocated his shoulder in the win against the Lions. But Jean Kleyn, who started the first match of the season against the Bulls in Pretoria, is also available again after recovering for a hamstring injury, which kept him out of the matches against the Blues and the Lions.
“Eben trained really well last week, and Jean Kleyn trained well. So we will see them at training tomorrow again, but I'm very positive that both of them will be ready for selection.”
The Stormers' lineout was a shambles on Saturday, and it actually robbed the team of much-needed momentum against a plucky Lions team, who looked a lot more threatening with Elton Jantjies at flyhalf.
Both Bongi Mbonambi and Scarra Ntubeni haven't quite found their range yet, but Etzebeth and Burger should be a lot easier to locate.
The breakdowns weren’t much better either, as the Stormers couldn’t get enough quick ball. The Lions outmuscled them, and their cleaning out and carrying wasn’t great.
Another Springbok in Siya Kolisi could be the answer in that regard, as he will definitely add a lot more physicality following the injury to Rynhardt Elstadt.
“First of all, we weren’t clinical enough at the breakdown. If you look at our body positions, there is a lot of work to do. We will work hard this week to get it right,” Coetzee said.
“The ball carriers could have done better in contact, and then our first and second arrivals weren’t good enough or quick enough.”
With one of the few lineouts that did work, the Stormers put the Lions away with just a handful of minutes left on the clock when Kolisi scored from a powerful maul to give the Stormers a 20-19 lead.
They then needed to convert the try from a difficult angle to make sure that the Lions need a five-pointer to snatch victory. Up stepped substitute Kurt Coleman, and the replacement flyhalf calmly slotted the kick from an acute angle.
The starting No 10 Demetri Catrakilis had another solid outing and kept the Stormers in the game with his unerring accuracy from the kicking tee. He also kicked some booming penalty kicks out of hand.
However, he also kicked a few aimless up-and-unders that the Lions were happy to run back, and didn’t quite get his backs away.
Coleman is a silky passer of the ball and has lovely feet. After showing that he can handle the big moment at Ellis Park, it could be worthwhile starting him against the Sharks or in next week’s game against the Chiefs.
“I’m fortunate to have two quality flyhalves,” Coetzee said. “Definitely there will be rotation, because Kurt has played a pivotal role in all the wins so far when he has come on to close out and win us a game.
“But one must give credit to Demetri also. He kept the scoreboard ticking over and kicked some brilliant penalties, long-range penalties. It’s a long season ahead and players will get starts, but I will do that (rotate) as I see fit.” - Cape Times