The DHL Stormers side has suffered some injuries whilst on tour, with Scarra Ntubeni and Patrick Cilliers sent back to South Africa.

As a result, the Stormers are looking for suitable replacements to join them on tour.

In addition they have tried to obtain the services of Griquas hooker on loan, Martin Bezuidenhot, which have apparently been unuccessful.

Injuries and replacements:

According to Sport24, Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has admitted that he may not have enough players to cover all positions affected by recent injuries.

The Stormers suffered another injury setback following their 14-13 loss to the Crusaders in New Zealand on Saturday.

Two tight-five forwards, hooker Scarra Ntubeni and prop Pat Cilliers, are on their way home, after lock Rynhardt Elstadt returned last week before the team’s first tour match.

Stormers coach Allister Coetzee said his resources would be stretched to the limits with three matches remaining on the Australasian tour.

Other tight forwards who might not be fit to play this weekend were tighthead prop Frans Malherbe (toe) and lock Michael Rhodes (shoulder), both struggling to recover in time.

“At the rate we are sending players home, we need an entire team to be on standby,” Coetzee said on Monday.

“In recent years, we’ve had a loose forward crisis and then in another year we lost a few flyhalves.

“This year it looks like the turn of the locks and, to a lesser extent, the tight forwards.

“We have a training group of 40 players and now it does not look like it is enough to cover all positions.”

On Saturday, Ntubeni tore a calf muscle and Cilliers damaged his rib cartilage.

The two are likely to be out of action for five to six weeks.

The exact extent of the injuries to Malherbe and Rhodes was not known on Monday and Coetzee said the picture would be clearer by Wednesday, when the players would undergo fitness tests.

Fullback Jaco Taute came down heavily on his shoulder and was forced to leave the field in the second half against the Crusaders but the injury appeared not to be as bad as initially thought.

Coetzee expected Taute to join Tuesday’s training session and there was a chance he could be fit to play the Chiefs, in Auckland, this weekend.

Boland tighthead prop Martin Dreyer, who joined from the Leopards at the beginning of the year, has been called up to join the Stormers.

Western Province hooker Stephan Coetzee, 22, will join the tour as a direct replacement for Ntubeni.

The Stormers are likely to move Deon Fourie from flank to hooker but coach Coetzee said that would be a last resort.

“For now, I’m not considering Fourie as a hooker because he’s doing so well at flank,” Coetzee said.

“He has a high tackle count and his work rate is among the highest in matches.”

Coetzee said if the locks were injured in Friday’s game against the Chiefs, he may be forced to use his loose forwards to do line-out duty.

Martin Bezuidenhout:

While the Stormers have flown out WP hooker Stephan Coetzee, they have failed to secure the services of Griquas’ Martin Bezuidenhout.

Stormers management had initially requested to have Martin Bezuidenhout released from Griquas on a loan spell as Ntubeni’s replacement at hooker, but that request was denied by the Kimberley-based union.

“Martin Bezuidenhout was part of our squad last season, so he knows the systems well, whereas calling up Stephan Coetzee leaves a big hole in the Western Province Vodacom Cup team,” Stormers coach Allister Coetzee said.

“But, that said, Stephan deserves this opportunity.

He is a young player with plenty of potential and he trained with the Currie Cup team last year, so he’s known to all.

“We look forward to his arrival, along with that of Martin Dreyer, as we continued to work towards Friday’s game against the Chiefs.”

Front row forwards Stephan Coetzee and Martin Dreyer ironically played against each other in a Vodacom Cup match at City Park on Saturday, a game won 16-8 by WP, but they will now board the same plane on Tuesday en route for Sydney and then Auckland as Stormers squad mates.

Coetzee, 22, has played for Western Province at every level since his Under-16 days as a Paarl Boys’ High School scholar and has played nine matches for the WP Vodacom Cup team (since last year).

The robust hooker will join up with some of his title-winning WP Under-21 teammates from last year when he arrives in New Zealand – prop Oliver Kebble, lock Ruan Botha and wing Kobus van Wyk, as well as utility forward Jurie van Vuuren, who flew to New Zealand at the weekend as a replacement for Rynhardt Elstadt.