Stormers captain Schalk Burger’s knee injury would appear to be less serious than was initially feared when he left the field in the first half of his team’s match against the Hurricanes at Newlands on Saturday.

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The Stormers scored three tries to two in winning 39-26, but the victory was somewhat marred by the injury to Burger which saw him transported off the field on a motorised stretcher.

However, the post-match news for the Stormers was not as gloomy as it may have been.

“Unfortunately we’ve lost the captain,” said coach Allister Coetzee after the game, but the good news was that it was not a cruciate ligament injury, in which case it would have been a long-term injury.

“He’s torn his medial ligaments so he’ll be out for four to six weeks,” said Coetzee.

Burger will have scans and see an orthopaedic specialist on Sunday to confirm the prognosis.

Jean de Villiers, who took over the captaincy from Burger, commented: “It’s definitely a big loss for us to lose our captain – also because of the way he plays for this team.

“But we believe that to fare well in this competition you need 35 to 40 players who can do the job for you. We believe we’ve got that and hopefully the player who replaces him can grab the opportunity and do the job for us.”

The coach added that Burger had been injured in the first game of the 2011 season as well and, as they had done then, the team accepted the challenge of playing without their captain for a while.

He believed Siya Kolisi had played very well when he replaced his skipper and Nizaam Carr, Reuben Johannes and Don Armand were also highly regarded young loose forwards in the Stormers squad.

Good news for the Stormers was that flyhalf Peter Grant was expected back from Japan in time to train with the team on Wednesday and to be considered for the team’s game against the Sharks at Newlands on Saturday.