The young player who made the biggest impression for the Stormers in their 23-13 win over the Bulls last Saturday may be forced to sit out the next match against the Western Force at Newlands.
Lock Rynhardt Elstadt has swelling on his ankle and although he is undergoing treatment, coach Allister Coetzee has listed him as doubtful for the Force match.
Sport24
The good news for the Stormers is that the loss of Elstadt, if it comes to that, will be off-set by the return to the squad of Anton van Zyl, who captained Western Province for most of the last Currie Cup season. Van Zyl was the star of the Barbarians win over the Springboks at Twickenham last December and will be eager to return to Stormers colours after playing a full match for the WP Vodacom Cup side last week.
However with Andries Bekker back as a fixture in the Stormers team and wearing the No 5 jersey that Van Zyl has a preference for, it is likely that De Kock Steenkamp will slot into the starting team, with Van Zyl playing off the bench. Not that Van Zyl can’t play No 4 lock – he did play there for a while last season.
The Stormers are quite strong at lock at the moment as Adriaan Fondse, a stalwart over the previous three seasons and the target of a big money offer from Saracens in 2009, is playing for the WP Vodacom Cup team.
But all of the locks that are on the fringes are going to struggle to displace Elstadt, who was more than a match for the legendary Bakkies Botha in the Loftus match and played a massive role in ensuring that for once it was the Stormers who outmuscled the Bulls and dominated the collisions. Fortunately even if Elstadt is forced to miss the Force game his condition is not serious enough to keep him out for any length of time.
Schalk Burger is expected to return to the Stormers team for the Force game, though at this stage he looks more likely to play off the bench than lead the side as a member of the starting team.
“Schalk started running last week, but we will see how he goes in training on Tuesday, when we are set to do some much more vigorous stuff. I won’t risk him if he is not 100%,” said Coetzee.
The coach can afford to take a conservative line on Burger’s comeback because it is a not insignificant fact that the Loftus win was achieved without the regular captain, who many felt would be sorely missed in the physical exchanges. Pieter Louw was outstanding as Burger’s replacement, as indeed he was in the two matches before the Bulls fixture, and Nick Koster also played well when he came on in the last quarter.
Tighthead prop Brok Harris left the field at Loftus with a recurrence of his wrist injury but he is expected to be fit to face the Force.