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Stormers lose top wing
11/01/2007 22:14 - (SA)
Stephen Nell, Die Burger
Cape Town - The Stormers will be without the services of wing Chumani Booi for the whole of the Super 14 rugby competition.
The former Griquas star suffered a serious knee injury when the Stormers played a practice match against the Western Province Vodacom Cup team on Thursday.
About 2 500 spectators turned up to watch the team prepare for the Super 14 warm-up match against the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
"Chumani will be out of action for about six months," Stormers coach Kobus van der Merwe said afterwards, explaining that Booi had been hurt in a tackle. "The rest of the guys are all fit and ready."
Medical tests confirmed Van der Merwe's fears. The Stormers later announced in a news release that Booi had damaged ligaments in the knee, would need surgery and may need up to seven months to recover.
Van der Merwe is now keeping his fingers crossed that Fijian wing Sireli Naqelevuki will arrive in Cape Town on Friday. Naqelevuki has been delayed three times because of political unrest in his country, personal reasons and problems with travel documents.
Booi's injury during the contact session gave Springbok Werner Greeff an opportunity to show that he could play top-flight rugby this year.
Barry was outstanding
Joe Pietersen moved from fullback to wing and Greeff took over at the back.
Greeff and nearly forgotten Springbok centre De Wet Barry caught Van der Merwe's eye. "De Wet was outstanding and Werner was brilliant," the coach enthused.
"Werner was unbelievable in the way he gave direction to the backline. His attacking play was very good."
Greeff can also be considered at flyhalf or centre but his experience at fullback provides Van der Merwe with an option to manage Gio Aplon's progress into Super 14 rugby carefully.
Aplon will get his opportunity against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld but Van der Merwe has withdrawn wing Egon Seconds from the starting line-up.
"Egon has a slight hamstring problem. We'll start with Joe Pietersen on the wing," the coach said.
The Stormers were astonished when approximately 2 500 supporters turned up to watch the practice match. There had been no announcement that it would be an open session and no more than a few spectators were expected.
"This gives me much hope for the support we could get this year," said the team manager, Chippie Solomon.
- Die Burger
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