Gerbrandt Grobler has flown to Australia as a replacement given that both Rynhardt Elstadt and Duane Vermeulen on their way home with knee injuries.
Both players limped off in the final ten minutes of the Stormers’ 15-21 defeat to the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday and the pair face up to two months on the sidelines.
Grobler left for Australia on Sunday afternoon (SA time), while Elstadt and Vermeulen are set to depart for South Africa on Monday morning (Sydney time).
“Both suffered Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) injuries,” confirmed Stormers coach Allister Coetzee, “it’s a massive blow for us at this stage of the season.”
In the absence of Elstadt and Vermeulen, Don Armand and Nizaam Carr could move into the starting line-up against the Rebels next Friday, with Grobler – fresh off a strong Vodacom Cup campaign for WP – set to provide cover from the bench.
“As we saw in the final ten minutes against the Waratahs – losing Rynhardt and Duane had a big effect on the final result,” said Coetzee.
“We really will miss their influence – on defence and with ball in hand – but I have full confidence in Don and Nizaam to step up into starting roles should they be required to do so.”
Lock Grobler, 21, has made one appearance for the Stormers this season, coming off the bench in his team’s 22-15 win over the Sharks a month ago.
He played in Saturday’s Vodacom Cup semifinal for WP – a game which they lost 25-44 to the Lions in Johannesburg .
Said Coetzee: “Gerbrandt will provide much-needed cover from the bench for us against the Rebels.
“He is a good line-out forward and won’t be short of match practice after playing a key role for our Vodacom Cup side up until now. We look forward to his arrival and getting him up to speed for Friday.
“We’ve got to stay positive and keep working hard for the next game, despite it being a short week (with the game on Friday),” added the Stormers coach. “The players that are fit, along with Gerbrandt when he arrives, will have to do the job for us against the Rebels.”
Meanwhile, hooker Deon Fourie – who picked up a rib injury against the Waratahs – will stay on with the squad in the hope of being fit for the Rebels clash.
“We will continue to monitor Deon, on a day-to-day basis,” said Coetzee. “He was in less discomfort today (Sunday), so we will see how he looks on Monday.”
Fourie, of course, can also provide back row cover.
The Stormers squad will do video analysis and gym work on Monday, before resuming full training in Sydney on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The team will transfer to Melbourne on Thursday ahead of their final tour match, against the Rebels at AAMI Park on Friday (kick-off 11h40 SA time). The squad will return home on Saturday.
I am disappointed by and concerned over the performance of the Stormers team. I would like to test a theory with you. In business, there is a management tool called Balanced Scorecard. This basically involves identifying what tasks a person in an organisation carries out and link a performance measurement system to each task. Whilst this system helps to manage efficiency of the business, it tends to put a damper on the entrepreneurial flair within a company. To me, the Stormers team tends to focus 100% on carrying out assigned responsibilities. There seems to be a culture of doing things well within a certain plan. I would like to know how they evaluate players after the game. Could this evaluation/Balanced Scorecard not have the effect that players are scared to think and play “out of the box”? We see very little innovation to play the immediate situation. Is that why players like Nic Groom and Elton Jantjies fail to fit in? Is it too difficult for them to play “patroonrugby”? There seems to be a culture where players are paralysed by the fear of doing something wrong. If I were the coach, I would strongly consider to bring in fresh blood like Tim Swiel on flyhalf with Nic Groom on scrumhalf. We will see mistakes, but hell, we could see some brilliance as well. It concerns me that Jean de Villiers talks about not moving the ball wide for fear of turnarounds. To me, it seems that there is a big fundamental problem in Stormers rugby and that we should not expect any fireworks from them. Just the normal win or lose by a few points. Boring. Would like to hear your comments on it.