Stormers lose Bok star ahead of Hurricanes clash
TEAM UPDATE: There is a late change to the Stormers team to face the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday.
Stormers lock Eben Etzebeth will miss the encounter with the Hurricanes due to concussion.
Etzebeth took a knock to the head in the 35-8 win against the Jaguares at Newlands last week which saw him go off for a Head Impact Assessment (HIA) and spend the rest of the game on the sidelines.
The experienced second-rower was named in the DHL Stormers starting line-up on Thursday, after passing a number of standard tests in the week, but has subsequently been ruled out.
As a result JD Schickerling comes into the starting line-up to form a lock partnership with Chris van Zyl, with Salmaan Moerat on the replacements bench.
DHL Stormers Head Coach Robbie Fleck said that the safety of the players will always come first.
“We were hopeful that Eben would be fit to play against the Hurricanes, but unfortunately he did not come through some of the tests later in the week, so we made the call to give him another week to recover fully.
“JD Schickerling has been in great form this season and we are also excited about what Salmaan Moerat will do with this opportunity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Utility forward Pieter-Steph du Toit is unlikely to play in all four games of the tour because his wife is expecting their first child.
“When my wife phones to say the birth is imminent, I will catch the first available flight to South Africa,” said the Springbok lock-cum-flank.
Stormers – revised: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 SP Marais, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 Dan du Plessis, 23 Damian Willemse.
Date: Saturday, March 23
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 19.35 (08.35 SA time; 06.35 GMT)
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Nick Briant (New Zealand), Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)
