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Rassie keeps Sharks guessing

Cape Town - Is it a ruse to get the Sharks thinking down one particular tack ahead of Saturday’s Super 14 showdown with the Stormers, or is Rassie Erasmus really still thinking he might play Sireli Naqelevuki in the match?

The big Fijian came off during the warm-up game against the Boland Cavaliers 10 days ago in obvious discomfort from a rib injury. The initial prognosis was that the bruising might take up to three weeks to clear up, and Erasmus said they would play a waiting game before deciding on Naqelevuki’s fitness.

However, last week the Stormers coach appeared resigned to going without Naqelevuki, who, although like many South Pacific Islanders is a bit ponderous when going back to field kicks, is also one of the go-to men in the Stormers team when it comes to breaching the advantage line.

Naqelevuki is not dissimilar to Jonah Lomu in the sense that he sometimes requires several defenders to stop him, and this has obvious advantages in terms of the space that opens up around him for the attacking team.

At the start of the final buildup week, however, the message being put out by the Stormers is that they are prepared to wait until Friday before making a final decision on his availability.

According to Stormers assistant coach Gary Gold, Naqelevuki has made great progress in his recovery.

“Sireli is looking good. He ran strongly and did some one-on-one stuff. He responded well to the session but we will only know later how his ribs are,” said Gold.

Media manager Frikkie Erasmus has also confirmed to reporters that Naqelevuki will probably be bracketed when the team is announced on Wednesday, with Friday, the day before the game, being listed as cut-off.

If Naqelevuki does play it will mean that the Stormers, provided there have been no further setbacks during the closed training sessions that the media have not been informed about, will be at full strength.

However, the question Sharks coach John Plumtree should be asking himself, and he must know Rassie Erasmus’s reputation for pre-match subterfuge by now, is would the Stormers be so keen to divulge the news that Naqelevuki might be fit after all if they really expect him to play?

The closed training sessions have certainly added greater intrigue to the usual pre-announcement speculation, and the absence from training last week of flyhalf Peter Grant was never really given a satisfactory enough explanation, so who knows what might come out in the team announcement.

The big call that Erasmus has had to make this week is the one over his loose-forward configuration. While Luke Watson has played the two warm-up games at No 8, the smart money should be on Duane Vermeulen starting there against the Sharks.

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