Stormers manage battered Burger
9 Feb 2010
Schalk Burger missed Tuesday afternoon’s training session but is still expected to lead the Stormers this Saturday.
Burger injured his shoulder in the 14th minute of last week’s clash with Boland and was unable to complete the match. The Springbok flanker missed the first warm-up because of a haematoma and only played 40 minutes of the second, so there are valid concerns ahead of the season opener at Ellis Park. Apart from going into the Lions match with a niggle, Burger is short on game time.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee told keo.co.za last Saturday the injury wasn’t serious. On Tuesday, he was still adamant Burger will start at Ellis Park.
‘He looked good on Tuesday morning and the news is his shoulder is only bruised. There’s no torn ligaments and no long term damage. I just want to give my captain as long as possible to recover ahead of this weekend,’ Coetzee told this website.
‘I don’t even want to go into talk about cover for Schalk at openside. That’s how confident I am he’ll be fit to play.’
Centre Paul Bosch has been ruled out for six to eight weeks while Francois Louw is the latest injury concern. Coetzee confirmed Louw’s niggle isn’t serious and he should be alright to partner Burger in the back row.
The starting XV will be named on Thursday but the management has already settled on a match 22. Those who don’t form part of this group, namely Willem de Waal, Frikkie Welsh, Fabian Juries, Pieter Myburgh and Ryno Elstadt, have all been released to play in a Vodacom Cup friendly match against the Eagles this weekend.
Peter Grant will start at flyhalf and is likely to be partnered by Dewaldt Duvenage at halfback. Coetzee wouldn’t confirm the benching of Bok scrumhalf Ricky Januarie, but suggested the latter player is second in the No 9 pecking order.
‘We have two great scrumhalves. Ricky started the Super 14 last year, but went off the boil. Duveys [Duvenage] upped his game and took his opportunity and is now an important part of our system.
‘I’ve been impressed with the form Ricky has shown for the Ospreys and on return to the Stormers. He’s an experienced player and he’s a fighter. As he’s said himself, he’s a brand new Ricky. It’s a great attitude and I know he’s very keen to get his position back.’
Probable Stormers – 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (c), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 De Kock Steenkamp, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Subs: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 JC Kritzinger, 18 Anton van Zyl, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Lionel Cronje, 22 Sireli Naqelevuki.
By Jon Cardinelli
46 Comments
9 Feb 2010, 14:14 pm
This Dragon will give all he’s got… but not sure he has enough to lift Ratel
9 Feb 2010, 14:23 pm
@Staal: P Divvy gave him a 2-year contract and Brussow got only a 1year deal…
9 Feb 2010, 14:24 pm
eish… even though still very young… time seems to be ticking for Schalla as well..
all those massive hits he has put in all the years seems to be creeping up to him…..
Kom Schalla – byt vas – ons het jou nodig in 2011.!!!!
9 Feb 2010, 14:27 pm
@Beertjie: no problem, he’s the coach. He also said Mechanic and Ruan Woods were the best….
but time will tell…..
9 Feb 2010, 14:35 pm
This is actually such a non-thread…
9 Feb 2010, 14:59 pm
@WP Till I Die: Well at least we now know that Schalk’s playing… Hope this is the correct match 22, very stoked to have Gio at wing over Naqalevuki…
9 Feb 2010, 15:04 pm
what happened to “stormers cotton-wool star”
9 Feb 2010, 15:05 pm
@Tarlo:
Agreed, Gio Aplon much better than Sireli Naqelavuki – although, Sireli scored a beautiful try against the Sharks in the warm-up…
I’d still rather have Schalk at 7 and Flo at 6…but that’s just me.
9 Feb 2010, 15:14 pm
Any news on jantjies injury? pity hoffman not in the 22 imo better than ricky by far
9 Feb 2010, 15:17 pm
@Mustard:
Jantjes should be ready by about the second or third Super 14 match, from what I’ve heard.
9 Feb 2010, 15:17 pm
@WP Till I Die: Schalk played hes best rugby at 6 not point in changing to blindside now, rather he stay at 6 and fight with brussow for that jersey. With the new laws the break down gona be interesting this year as to who will have a bigger impact.
9 Feb 2010, 15:18 pm
Yeah Sireli certainly has his moments, the commentator correctly pointed out his work ethic during the sharks game, but it’s just so unreliable… SOme day’s he;s nowhere to be seen or in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons (Ridiculous knock-on over the tryline against lions two years ago and clothesline to lose the semis last year). In dry conditions Aplon is great and especially in this era in South Africa to see a small player in the first XV means he’s truly talented. Too many teams opt for the brutal approach and it raises questions about a player’s diversity when they’re big, even though they might still be skilled. Do you think Koster will get a shot at loose forward this year? Hard to find a spot for him nowadays…
9 Feb 2010, 15:18 pm
@WP Till I Die: Yeah…me too…but not according to Schalk…he’s gonna play where he wants to…wants to compete with Brussouw to regain place in Bok starting line-up…
9 Feb 2010, 15:19 pm
@WP Till I Die: oh ok, good news. He will probably take aplon’s place on the wing, we need hes boot in that backline
9 Feb 2010, 15:29 pm
@Mustard:
Jantjes has started running with the team apparently.
9 Feb 2010, 15:36 pm
@PissAnt: Far prefer Joe at 15…Jantjies will just kick posession away…
9 Feb 2010, 15:44 pm
@Staal: Jissie – soos nooit te vore nie!
9 Feb 2010, 15:50 pm
@Storm outta hell:
Joe is playing good rugby at the moment, Jantjes will have to fight his way back.
9 Feb 2010, 15:58 pm
@Mustard:
Yes, Conrad Jantjes will probably be used on the wing, or they’ll shift Joe Pietersen to wing.
Once we get everyone back from injuries we have quite some depth in the backline:
Scrumhalves: Ricky Januarie, Bolla Conradie, Dewaldt Duvenhage
Flyhalfs: Peter Grant, Willem de Waal, Lionel Cronje
Centres: Juan de Jongh, Morgan Newman, Fourie du Preez, Dylan des Fountain, Frikkie Welsh, Paul Bosch
Wings: Bryan Habana, Gio Aplon, Sireli Naqelavuki, Fabian Juries, JJ Engelbrecht
Fullbacks: Joe Pietersen, Conrad Jantjes
9 Feb 2010, 15:58 pm
@PissAnt: Yep…Stormers depth not looking half bad
9 Feb 2010, 16:02 pm
@WP Till I Die:
In fact, in general the depth looks pretty good in the Stormers squad.
Rassie has done a very good job of building depth through his contracting process this year.
9 Feb 2010, 16:04 pm
@WP Till I Die: Yah..Stormers looked pretty good till Bekker got injured last year…then everything just went wrong,Rassie seems to have back-up in all depts now…
9 Feb 2010, 16:06 pm
Duveys
that spelling is whack
9 Feb 2010, 16:14 pm
@WP Till I Die: I would much rather like to see Conrad Hoffman on that scrumhalf list ahead of Conradie!
Rassie needs to let Hoffman stay at 9 and not try to convert yet another talented player to 10!
Also, flyhalf issue in Western Cape…
Hot topic at the moment, but besides Lionel Cronje who seems to be the only promising 10 in the Stormers setup, what has happened to Coenie Van Wyk?
Flyhalves coming through the junior ranks:-
Doug Mallet
Sam Lane
Hayden Groepes
Jurgen Visser
Question, who will we hold on to and who will be let go? (we’ve already lost Kieron Goss to the Sharks)
9 Feb 2010, 16:15 pm
@Gambit25: and also lost last years SA schools flyhalf to the BULLS (also a Van Wyk, if i’m not mistaken)
9 Feb 2010, 16:16 pm
BTW, if that Maties side is given Boland rugby jerseys, they’ll get back to the premier league of the Currie Cup!
They are looking really good!
9 Feb 2010, 16:53 pm
Hey chaps. Really good news that Schalk is playing- can’t wait for the weekend. Just a quick question…I’ve seen on a few other threads some comments which suggest frans steyn is hom0sexual. is there something im missing??
9 Feb 2010, 17:10 pm
Ja you’ve missed a lot. There were suugested some hot pictures with him and another guy, but Fransie denied he is a ***. Now half of people seem to believe him the other not.
He is so sweet that he should be bisexual it would be a waste of good if he liked only one code:-)
9 Feb 2010, 17:47 pm
joe peterson is a star in the making. jantjies will not play this guy out of the team. my sollution would be to put jantjies on the wing but gio aplon wont let that happen. the boytjies got that x-factor about him
9 Feb 2010, 18:40 pm
Conradie has still got what it takes imo. Maybe not at test level but i reckon he will be a good option should either Januarie or Duvenage get injured!!!
9 Feb 2010, 19:12 pm
Looks a good side. Good depth except for the front row. Tiaan is the duct-tape that holds the fatties together. If he gets injured (has he had a full season?), scrums and lineouts will be a problem. if Stormers get lucky and avoid injuries in the front 3, they will do well. Aplon AND little Joe? I’d go with the Fiji to start.
9 Feb 2010, 21:37 pm
The Lions are not a threat to anyone , even at altitude, the main concern for the Stormers would be the captaincy style and decision making of SB
Grant will have his hands full early on to contain Spencer, then it will be a one way traffic.
9 Feb 2010, 22:55 pm
I see Rassie has decided to take charge of the team again hence the inclusion of Duvenhage and the exclusion of Bolla.. seems like Bolla was included in the game against Boland to prevent him from playing for Boland and making Duvenhage look like quota..
Schalks injury is mostly related to his fear of Lobberts… I reckon schalk prefers playing off the bench.. This allows him to decide when its best to steal the limelight… The idea is to stay out of the team when it is losing and play when a win is highly probable.
9 Feb 2010, 22:59 pm
Cheers all.. one post from me only tonight.. Give the twats an opportunity to respond and slander me.
9 Feb 2010, 22:59 pm
Doesn’t battered burger sound like something a desperate I&J product development brainstorm came up with?
9 Feb 2010, 23:14 pm
‘Schalk Burger missed Tuesday afternoon’s training session’
hope he stayed away from the beach!
9 Feb 2010, 23:42 pm
@The Almighty Shaun:
Yawn……….
10 Feb 2010, 05:04 am
So when were these pics of steyn ‘discovered’? and what was he actually doing in these pics?
10 Feb 2010, 07:23 am
The ‘almighty idiot’ is the quota on this site. You see we need a few dumb boneheads to even things out… What a complete tool…
10 Feb 2010, 07:48 am
@wpw:
As per usual, shouting your mouth off and emitting a load of hot air..like a warm ****.
10 Feb 2010, 14:00 pm
@schalla:
I’ ve read about it on sharksworld.co.za on 19 Jan. and tried to give you a link but it has been moderated wonder why?
10 Feb 2010, 14:01 pm
@schalla:
I mean my post has been moderated!
10 Feb 2010, 14:14 pm
Happy 90th birthday Fred Allen, AB skipper and coach. Moieskoot.
10 Feb 2010, 15:02 pm
hey if you could give me that link thatd be great. cheers!!
10 Feb 2010, 17:04 pm
@schalla:
Interested in Fransie that much? They delete links here so I’ll try to help you in another way. You must find the site sharksworld.co.za and search for archives from Januray 19th titled “Another flyhalf linked to sharks” then find comment no 33.
Frans said by his agent a week later that it couldn’t be him in the pictures.
10 Feb 2010, 17:09 pm
@schalla:
Sorry comment no 34.
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.