The DHL Stormers have announced that Juan de Jongh has injured his knee and will miss 6 weeks of rugby.
In addition, Schalk Burger makes double news, being named the Captain of the side who will take on the Southern Kings on the weekend and with the further news that he wants to stay put in the Cape, at least till after the next World Cup.
Juan de Jongh:
Stormers centre Juan de Jongh has been ruled out for a minimum of 6 weeks with a knee injury.
The news comes as a devastating blow for the Cape side who were expected to field a formidable partnership in midfield this season with De Jongh and skipper Jean de Villiers.
Coach Alister Coetzee is now expected to call upon Damian de Allende to fill the void.
De Allende had been expected to play on the wing this season following the departures of Bryan Habana and Gerhard van den Heever, and the long-term injury to Cheslin Kolbe.
Stormers’ remaining pre-season fixtures:
Friday 7 February:
Southern Kings v Stormers, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (Port Elizabeth) – 19:00
Saturday 15 February:
Boland v Stormers, Boland Stadium (Wellington) – kick-off TBC
Stormers squad for Southern Kings:
Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee has announced his starting line-up for Friday’s pre-season friendly against the Kings in Port Elizabeth (kick-off 19:00).
Flank Schalk Burger will captain the team this week, with Jaco Taute lining up at fullback and Argentina lock Manuel Carizza making his first appearance for the Stormers.
Taute will be joined in the back three by Scott van Breda – who scored the winning try against the Bulls in Polokwane last weekend – and Kobus van Wyk who gets another run in the No 14 jersey.
Squad captain Jean de Villiers gets a complete break this weekend, with Damian de Allende and Michael van der Spuy starting at centre and Nic Groom will start at scrumhalf.
The only change up front this week sees Carizza – who is over his groin niggle – replace Ruan Botha in the No 5 jersey, whilst replacements Sikhumbuzo Notshe (loose forward) and Devon Williams (wing) join the extended match-day squad this week.
Stormers: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Michael van der Spuy, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Scott van Breda, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger (Captain), 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Manuel Carizza, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Pat Cilliers, 19 Michael Rhodes, 20 Jean Kleyn, 21 Nizaam Carr, 22 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 23 Louis Schreuder, 24 Gary van Aswegen, 25 Pat Howard, 26 Devon Williams, 27 Ryno Eksteen.
Schalk Burger stays in Cape:
Sport24 repors that Stormers flank Schalk Burger has admitted that he is thinking of playing overseas, but will stay on in South Africa for the time being.
Big-spending French club, Toulon, are reportedly eager to lure Burger to France but they’ll have to wait a while.
Burger is currently in negotiations with the Western Province Rugby Union to extend his contract by another year. His current deal expires at the end of this season.
“The older you get, the more you start to think about overseas options,” the 30-year-old said.
“I no longer have a Springbok contract and that makes the difference between what I’m earning and what I could earn a lot bigger. But I’m negotiating to stay here for another year. Hopefully it will happen.”
Burger admitted that he still has a burning desire to get back into the Springbok team.
“I’ll lie if I say that I wouldn’t like to play for the Boks again. It’s a tough one. However, the focus is firstly on myself and what I can do to be of big value to the Stormers.”