Cape Town – The Stormers received a huge blow to their chances of victory on Saturday afternoon after star fullback Warrick Gelant was ruled out of the United Rugby Championship showdown against the Bulls at Cape Town Stadium (2pm kickoff).
Springbok utility back Gelant has been struggling with a minor thumb injury, which saw him sit out last weekend’s 29-13 win over the Ospreys.
Stormers coach John Dobson said during the midweek team announcement that due to concerns over Gelant’s issue, he was playing off the bench instead of starting, which saw Damian Willemse picked at No 15 and Rikus Pretorius at inside centre.
Dobson was hopeful that Gelant would be ready for the Bulls clash, but about 75 minutes before kickoff on Saturday, the Stormers posted on Twitter: “Change to the DHL Stormers matchday squad with Sergeal Petersen on the replacements bench in place of Warrick Gelant, who has been held back due to a minor thumb injury.”
It does change the dynamic of the Stormers’ second-half onslaught, as Gelant played an influential role in their 30-26 victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in January.
His ability to unlock defences through his running, passing and kicking game would have given the Cape side some real punch in the final quarter.
Petersen is certainly no slouch in the pace stakes, and can cover wing and fullback, but he’s not quite the playmaker that Gelant is.
And with Dobson having opted for a six-two split in favour of the forwards, he will hope that there aren’t any early injuries during the match.
The Bulls also had to make a late change to their replacements bench on Friday night, with veteran hooker Bismarck du Plessis ruled out after receiving a three-match ban for striking Western Province lock Ben-Jason Dixon in a Currie Cup game on Wednesday night at Loftus Versfeld.
Joe van Zyl has come into the match-day squad as a replacement.
Teams For Cape Town Stadium
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse 14 Seabelo Senatla 13 Ruhan Nel 12 Rikus Pretorius 11 Leolin Zas 10 Manie Libbok 9 Herschel Jantjies 8 Evan Roos 7 Hacjivah Dayimani 6 Deon Fourie 5 Marvin Orie 4 Adre Smith 3 Neethling Fouche 2 Scarra Ntubeni 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Bench: 16 Chad Solomon 17 Brok Harris 18 Frans Malherbe 19 Connor Evans 20 Ben-Jason Dixon 21 Junior Pokomela 22 Paul de Wet 23 Sergeal Petersen.
Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse 14 Canan Moodie 13 Lionel Mapoe 12 Harold Vorster 11 Madosh Tambwe 10 Chris Smith 9 Zak Burger 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Cyle Brink 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain) 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Mornay Smith 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenkamp.
Bench: 16 Joe van Zyl 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Robert Hunt 19 Janko Swanepoel 20 Arno Botha 21 Keagan Johannes 22 Morné Steyn 23 Cornal Hendricks.
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