Former Lions hooker Ettienne Reynecke will make his debut for the DHL Stormers off the bench in Saturday’s big north/south derby against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus.
Reynecke joined the Stormers on loan from Saracens last week to help buffer the loss of Tiaan Liebenberg to a knee ligament injury. Liebenberg is expected to be out for another four weeks, which means he should be ready to tour with the Stormers when they leave for overseas in April.
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But in the meantime Reynecke has an opportunity to make a statement as he swops the cold of England for the warmth of the late Cape summer, and with Stormers coach Allister Coetzee pinpointing the Bulls’ use of their bench as one of the reasons they are so effective at altitude, Reynecke could have a key role to play on Saturday in backing up the inform Deon Fourie.
Coetzee said that Reynecke will displace Siyabonga Ntubeni, one of the several young Western Province age-group stars from last year to have been blooded in the early stages of the Stormers’ Super Rugby campaign, on the bench for the Bulls clash.
“We have carefully planned our season and realize it is important for players on the bench to pick up proper game-time during the course of the season so they can be ready to make a big contribution if called in,” said Coetzee.
“Siyabonga has been on the bench for us for a couple of weeks now so we feel it will be a good idea for him to play a full Vodacom Cup game for Western Province this weekend. We may do the same with Gary van Aswegen, who has been on the bench for the last few games. This might be a good time to bring Lionel Cronje, who has played well for the WP Vodacom team, back into the match day squad.”
While the Stormers have gained Reynecke in the past few weeks, they have lost promising prop JC Kritzinger to a knee ligament injury that will rule him out for the rest of the season.
“It’s a great pity as JC played really well for us against the Highlanders this past weekend. He has now done ligaments on both knees in the past two seasons so we feel really sorry for him,” said Coetzee.
“Fortunately though we have built up quite a bit of depth at prop, with young players coming through and then we also have players like Wicus Blaauw and JD Moller who boast extensive Super Rugby experience.”
Coetzee said there was still an outside chance that Schalk Burger may return for the Loftus battle. Burger visited a specialist on Monday and Coetzee was waiting for him to report back on the knee strain that has kept him out for the past few weeks. However reading between the lines, the coach still appears to consider Burger unlikely to play.
Brok Harris is back from his wrist injury, which leaves an interesting conundrum for Coetzee when it comes to the front row. CJ van der Linde was much better in his preferred position of tighthead against the Highlanders, but Harris had an unbroken sequence of 35 consecutive Super Rugby appearances behind him before he missed out on the Highlanders game.
“It’s not really a massive problem for us as Brok played well for us a loosehead substitute in some of our games,” said Coetzee.
According to Coetzee, substitutes will play a big role in his team’s challenge.
“We have done a study on the Bulls and their home record and have realized that having a strong bench and using substitutions cleverly in the last 30 to 35 minutes of a game is a big part of their success. But we have also grown our depth in recent times. De Kock Steenkamp is a strong lock to bring onto the field, Nick Koster has been in the system for a while.”
Another lock, Anton van Zyl, who has been out with an injured shoulder since the pre-season is ready to make his return this week but will probably do so for the WP Vodacom Cup team.