Marais injury casts doubt over Leyds’ roll for Stormers

yesterday confirmed that SP Marais – who was named at fullback – suffered a knock during training yesterday and that they would make a call on his availability today.

Should Marais not be fit, Leyds will move to fullback in the place of Marais, while Whitehead stands in at No 10.

In other changes to the backline, Seabelo Senatla returns on the wing, while EW Viljoen will start at outside centre in the place of the injured JJ Engelbrecht.

Up front, loosehead prop JC Janse van Rensburg comes in for Steven Kitshoff, as the Bok prop drops to the bench.

The other change to the pack sees Cobus Wiese return to the starting line-up at blindside flank, while Kobus van Dyk will provide cover on the bench.

The benchng of Kitshoff is a surprise, but given the fact that the Crusaders are masters at performing for 80-plus minutes and have the ability to produce firing performances in the last quarter, having someone like Kitshoff on the bench isn’t a bad call, especially seeing that Janse van Rensburg was massive in the scrums when he came on against the Jaguares.

“The Crusaders are strong finishers, as we saw last week when they put 45 on the Chiefs, so it’s good to have an experienced and mobile guy like Kitshoff to provide impact off the bench,” Fleck said about the rotation.

Fleck also explained that Wiese’s physical presence, after he missed out on a starting berth last week, would make a good addition to the team.

“The Crusaders are known for their scrums and their lineouts, they’ve got a good tight five that will put you under pressure. So we felt that Cobus is better suited in that role. There’s certainly going to be a lot of battles up front.”

And after a disappointing loss to the Waratahs at the Allianz Stadium, Fleck said that they’re excited to go up against the defending champions.

“We’re going out there to get as many points as we can on tour and we certainly know the challenge that the Crusaders will bring. But we’re excited and it’s a good challenge for our boys. We’re looking to challenge the best teams in the competition consistently. This gives us an opportunity to challenge the defending champions in their own backyard.

“They don’t make a lot of mistakes and there’s nothing fancy about them – it’s just good, honest hard work. They work hard for each other and they’ve got a great culture. They probably have the best defence in the competition. They do the fundamentals of rugby extremely well, and that’s why they’re the champions. They don’t have a lot of weaknesses.

“Every team wants to go out there and get one over them and we’re certainly one of those teams and we’re looking forward to Saturday night.”