Frans may miss Stormers crunch clash

SPRINGBOK tighthead prop Frans Malherbe is unlikely to feature for the Stormers against the Bulls in their crucial Super Rugby match at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.

After a lengthy layoff with a neck injury Malherbe has been back at training but has not been included in any match-day squads yet.

The last time the two sides met‚ the Bulls dominated the Stormers’ scrum‚ particularly in the first quarter of the match‚ and that laid the platform for their 33-23 victory at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.

Stormers forwards coach Russell Winter acknowledged that Wilco Louw had been under a huge amount of pressure but said he believes the Cape side were managing him properly in training.

“Tightheads experience a huge workload in a small contact area‚ so we are managing Wilco in training to make sure there’s not too much stress put on him.

“As far as Frans is concerned‚ he had a serious neck injury and we are trying to get him back to being the player that he was. We are not going to rush him into the deep end.

“That first scrum the last time we played is one we remember.

“It’s moments like those that you hate when they happen as a rugby player‚ and you don’t forget them.

“That scrum definitely set the tone for the game,” Winter said.

“But we aren’t going to change anything in terms of our technique and how we scrum because we believe we have a good set piece ourselves. They just caught us on the back foot in that first scrum.

“As the game progressed we improved in the scrums but that certainly wasn’t the way we wanted to start‚ and we’ll do our best not to get caught in that scenario or situation again.

“The players know what’s coming. This is a derby and the Bulls have always been a tough opposition‚ but as a coach all you can do is focus on what makes us good and how we are going to go about our business.”

Winter also said that after beating the Rebels 34-18 on Friday‚ to end a run of three successive defeats‚ the Stormers would not be changing anything in training – just like they had not changed anything when they were in their losing rut.

“The temptation‚ when you’re losing, is to want to make wholesale changes‚ but we’re just trying to stick to the processes.

“We are trying to stick to those processes and just work at what we’ve been trying to execute the entire year.

“As far as the format and structure of our training go‚ we haven’t changed anything from our previous week’s preparation.

“The only thing is that coming in to work after a win is a lot easier.”