Second-row blow for Stormers
STORMERS COACH Robbie Fleck says JD Schickerling might only return from injury “towards the end of the (Super Rugby) tournament”.
Schickerling was massive in the Stormers’ Super Rugby fixture against the Crusaders at the weekend, but his hard work also came at a price as he’s expected to be sidelined for three months with a torn bicep.
During a teleconference call yesterday, Fleck said further tests will have to be done on the promising lock, but it’s certain that he won’t feature in their tour-concluding match against the Highlanders on Friday.
“They (medical team) still have to give us a definitive answer, but at the moment they are saying he will be out for up to 12 weeks,” Fleck said.
“He has torn a bicep and they will do more investigations when he gets back home, but it doesn’t look good for him.
Salmaan Moerat has joined the team in New Zealand to provide some cover in the Stormers’ troubled second row – which could also be without Springbok Pieter-Steph du Toit if he doesn’t look too good later this week, after he took a knock to the head against the Crusaders.
Another Stormers standout at the weekend was flank Cobus Wiese, and he’s another who seems likely to sit out the last game of their three-match tour to Australasia.
“Him (Schickerling) and Cobus Wiese were standout players. The last couple of games he (Schickerling) has played exceptionally well, his work rate and his brutality around the park was really outstanding, so we are going to miss him,” Fleck said.
“He was outstanding on the weekend against three All Black locks.”
“Wiese is hurting. He is a bit sore at the moment and he didn’t train, so we haven’t been able to really decide on a team because we have a few injuries. Kobus van Dyk is also carrying an injury and also Pieter-Steph.”
“He (Du Toit) has passed his concussion test, but obviously we just need to monitor him through the week until he finishes all his tests.”
“We will be a little bit thin, but I guess that Pieter-Steph and Kobus van Dyk are looking more likely to be passed fit, whereas maybe Cobus Wiese is going to struggle.”
“We will give him (Wiese) as much time as possible to recover because he was such a dominant force on the weekend and it will be good to have him again,” Fleck added.
In terms of the match against the defending champions – one that saw the Stormers bury a dreadful first-quarter performance with an improved secondhalf outing – Fleck believes that his team “deserved more” in the 45-28 defeat.
“We showed the physicality that we can bring and we scored some excellent tries. We deserved more. We possibly could have scored a fifth try at the end there. We had numerous linebreaks that we didn’t convert on. It’s not often that you see the Crusaders on the backfoot like we had them for 60 minutes,” he said.
“We just had to show more patience and less panic, which we did in the last 60.”
“We’re certainly pleased and encouraged with the performance.”