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Cape Town - It’s week three in Super Rugby and already the Stormers have been forced into a change in a crucial position.
The news that flyhalf Robert du Preez is out for up to 12 weeks with a knee injury has thrown somewhat of a spanner into the works for coach Robbie Fleck, but the former Springbok centre is taking comfort in 26-year-old Kurt Coleman.
Coleman is the man likely to replace Du Preez against the Sharks at Newlands this weekend, having come on against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday after Du Preez hobbled off.
The replacement flyhalf gave a good account of himself in the 35 minutes he played, kicking two penalties and a conversion as the Stormers sealed an important victory.
“I’m very happy with Kurt,” Fleck said on Tuesday.
“He had just got on and got a really tough penalty that he had to slot over and credit to him, he showed a lot of guts.
“He hasn’t played much rugger this season but he showed some decent touches.”
Du Preez’s injury also opens up space on the bench for either Jean-Luc du Plessis or Brandon Thompson – both just 21.
“We obviously need to get in a specialist flyhalf and we’ll be looking at that,” said Fleck.
“We’ve got two good young players in Brandon Thompson and Jean-Luc du Plessis and we’ll be looking at introducing them into the set-up.
“They’ve both done the whole pre-season with us so it will be an exciting opportunity for them.”
Fleck also ruled out the possibility of venturing into the transfer market in an attempt to lure in an emergency flyhalf from outside of the franchise.
“We’ve always said it … we’re going to back the youngsters in the system,” said the coach.
“Obviously Rob is a big loss for us and I feel for him … he played well against the Bulls but we need to back the youngsters in the system and we’ll do exactly that.”
