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Stormers call up Poolman

Gavin Rich - SuperSport

Auckland - Young Danie Poolman has been flown to New Zealand as cover for Jaque Fourie, but Stormers coach Allister Coetzee is going to give the Springbok a chance to recover before making a call on his availability for the crucial match against the Blues in Auckland on Friday.

Kick-off is at 09:35 SA time.

Coetzee has told the media that he will see how Fourie goes in training on Tuesday before making a ruling. The fact that Fourie intended starting the training session in Auckland was a good sign as Coetzee had admitted that he was “worried” about the star outside centre in the immediate after-math of the loss to the Chiefs in Hamilton.

“Jaque is struggling with his hip but we will see how he goes in training,” said Coetzee.

The Stormers are in the happy position of being able to replace one Springbok centre with another in the form of Juan de Jongh, who has had a problem with his decision-making this season but was in outstanding form in 2010 and was rated as one of the best newcomers on the international circuit.

However, Fourie is an important part of the Stormers defensive system as so much revolves around his genius as a communicator and organiser. He is also with doubt the most thrustful Stormers back on attack at the moment and has scored the most Stormers tries this season.

Poolman played the entire first half of the season on the wing. A graduate of Rassie Erasmus’s 2010 Western Province Under-21 season, Poolman is an efficient player who does the basics well but may lack the out and out pace expected of a wing at this level.

Poolman missed out initially on the trip to Australasia because of the progress that had been made by another star of last year’s WP Under-21 side, centre Johann Sadie, who was effective when deployed on the wing against Crusaders recently.

Loose forward back-up Nick Koster and prop CJ van der Linde are both reportedly back in training, with Van der Linde, who brings a definite edge to the Stormers’ physical game when he starts, expected to regain the No 3 jersey for the match against the Blues. Coetzee also looks set to recall Dewaldt Duvenage as his starting scrumhalf after giving Ricky Januarie a chance in Hamilton.

As he would be advised to do, Coetzee has called on his team to forget the second half against the Chiefs, although he has asked them to look at where they went wrong in a period which let them down badly after an almost perfect first half. Rightly, Coetzee is calling on his team to carry the ball more against the Blues.

“Our kicking game out of hand was not good enough. It was really concerning to see that we struggled to kick the ball into touch, and we burnt our fingers with those poor tactical kicks. We need to keep possession and not give it away so easily,” said Coetzee.

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