Bleak outlook for Burger

Any hopes of Schalk Burger taking to the field again this year seem to have vanished thanks to a knee injury which is not responding to treatment.

The Springbok flank injured himself in the Stormers' opening Super Rugby game of the season against the Hurricanes and has been sidelined ever since which has left his prospects of recovering soon highly uncertain.

Western Province coach Allister Coetzee told this website that Burger's rehabilitation has "hit a wall", with little progress being made in recent times.

"Schalk is still out completely. He had to stop the rehab completely because he wasn't going any further so he saw a specialist last week and we are just waiting for the report on that," he said.

Coetzee added that while surgery may provide a solution he is not expecting to be able to call on the Bok veteran for the rest of the year.

"There is a possibility that he might have to clean up the whole thing again or the other option would be to just do nothing for a while and then reassess from there.

"I think he will be out for the year, that is without even looking at the specialist's report," he said,

By Michael de Vries