Ouens, I promise you, this is NOT an April’s Fools joke!!

Cape Town – Former Springbok scrumhalf Bolla Conradie could be back in a Stormers jersey soon.

Dewaldt Duvenage strained his calf muscle in the Cape franchise’s 33-21 Super14 victory against the Blues in Auckland on Saturday and was replaced by Ricky Januarie.

Stormers team doctor Ryan Kohler confirmed that the nippy scrumhalf suffered severe cramps in his calves against the Blues, saying though, that he should be ready to take his place in the starting line-up against the Chiefs in Hamilton on Friday.

“At this stage we haven’t booked any tickets yet. We are only being pro-active,” manager Chippie Solomons said from Auckland on Sunday.

“The team doctor decided that we should contact Bolla Conradie as a contingency plan if Dewies (Duvenage) fails to recover from his calf injury. If Conradie cannot travel, Conrad Hoffman (who has played scrumhalf and flyhalf for Western Province in the Vodacom Cup) will be called up.”

Conradie, who is currently the captain of Boland, has been sidelined for a month with a stomach muscle injury.

Boland manager, Eugene  Ellof, said on Sunday: “At this stage I can confirm that the Stormers management contacted me about Bolla Conradie. Bolla has been out of action for a month. I cannot make a call on him. He will be consulting a specialist after which a decision will be made if he can travel to Australasia. My only worry is that Bolla has not taken contact for four weeks.”

Besides Duvenage’s cramping calves, Stormers coach Allister Coetzee said there were no other injury concerns in his camp. Coetzee however revealed that fullback Joe Pietersen who suffered a hip injury in the Super 14 clash against the Cheetahs at Newlands, will not be joining the side in Hamilton this week.

“We initially planned for Joe to come over for the last two games on the overseas leg of our Super 14 campaign. Unfortunately he hasn’t fully recovered from his injury. We felt it would be better if he joined us when we return,” explained Coetzee.

From News24