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Gavin Rich - SuperSport
Johannesburg - The DHL Stormers went through the pretence of naming Peter Grant as an option in their starting team for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby derby against the Sharks at Newlands but all indications are that Lionel Cronje will be the man to start.
Grant was bracketed alongside Cronje at flyhalf in the team named on Wednesday afternoon, with Cronje in turn bracketed with young Kurt Coleman on the bench. However, Grant hasn’t played since the match against the Reds three weeks ago and hasn’t trained with the Stormers this week so the chances of him suddenly pitching up at captain’s practice on Friday and taking a full part in it would appear to be nil.
In all Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has made four changes to the team that beat the Lions before their bye weekend, and there is also a positional switch.
Initially Coetzee said he was planning to give Peter Grant until Friday to prove his fitness for the match, which even at that stage seemed like a stretch, and in what is probably no more than an attempt to keep the Sharks guessing, he has stuck to that line even though other sources have confirmed to the media that Cronje will be starting on Saturday.
Cronje replaces Gary van Aswegen, who was injured against the Lions. Although Cronje has played mostly at fullback this season, he did come on as Van Aswegen’s replacement after 15 minutes of the Coca Cola Park match and has now had the benefit of training with the Stormers for the past two weeks.
Two of the changes see Springboks return to action after sitting out with injury. Bryan Habana will resume his struggle to regain his old form on the left wing, with Gio Aplon shifting to the right wing in place of young Danie Poolman, who drops out of the starting team and the squad for the first time this season.
Jean de Villiers comes back at inside centre for Juan de Jongh and a lot will be expected of the experienced former Stormers captain in the continued absence of the first choice pivot.
There had been speculation that Coetzee might move Aplon back to the wing and retain Poolman out wide but Conrad Jantjes was excellent at fullback against the Lions and at top form is the best option for the Stormers in the last line of defence.
Even though some of the players, such as Habana, are not in top form, it means that the Stormers effectively have their best back three, on paper at least, playing together in this important game.
The only change to the forwards comes at lock, where Rynhardt Elstadt returns from injury in place of De Kock Steenkamp, who drops to the bench.
The Stormers management have wisely resisted the temptation to tamper with the front-row which means that Springbok CJ van der Linde will continue in his preferred position of tighthead.
Johannesburg - The DHL Stormers went through the pretence of naming Peter Grant as an option in their starting team for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby derby against the Sharks at Newlands but all indications are that Lionel Cronje will be the man to start.
Grant was bracketed alongside Cronje at flyhalf in the team named on Wednesday afternoon, with Cronje in turn bracketed with young Kurt Coleman on the bench. However, Grant hasn’t played since the match against the Reds three weeks ago and hasn’t trained with the Stormers this week so the chances of him suddenly pitching up at captain’s practice on Friday and taking a full part in it would appear to be nil.
In all Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has made four changes to the team that beat the Lions before their bye weekend, and there is also a positional switch.
Initially Coetzee said he was planning to give Peter Grant until Friday to prove his fitness for the match, which even at that stage seemed like a stretch, and in what is probably no more than an attempt to keep the Sharks guessing, he has stuck to that line even though other sources have confirmed to the media that Cronje will be starting on Saturday.
Cronje replaces Gary van Aswegen, who was injured against the Lions. Although Cronje has played mostly at fullback this season, he did come on as Van Aswegen’s replacement after 15 minutes of the Coca Cola Park match and has now had the benefit of training with the Stormers for the past two weeks.
Two of the changes see Springboks return to action after sitting out with injury. Bryan Habana will resume his struggle to regain his old form on the left wing, with Gio Aplon shifting to the right wing in place of young Danie Poolman, who drops out of the starting team and the squad for the first time this season.
Jean de Villiers comes back at inside centre for Juan de Jongh and a lot will be expected of the experienced former Stormers captain in the continued absence of the first choice pivot.
There had been speculation that Coetzee might move Aplon back to the wing and retain Poolman out wide but Conrad Jantjes was excellent at fullback against the Lions and at top form is the best option for the Stormers in the last line of defence.
Even though some of the players, such as Habana, are not in top form, it means that the Stormers effectively have their best back three, on paper at least, playing together in this important game.
The only change to the forwards comes at lock, where Rynhardt Elstadt returns from injury in place of De Kock Steenkamp, who drops to the bench.
The Stormers management have wisely resisted the temptation to tamper with the front-row which means that Springbok CJ van der Linde will continue in his preferred position of tighthead.
Teams
Stormers: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Lionel Cronje/Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (captain), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Wicus Blaauw
Substitutes: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Brok Harris, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Nick Koster, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Kurt Coleman/Lionel Cronje, 22 Juan de Jongh
Sharks:
TBA
