Britz won’t face Brumbies
Britz, who made quite an impact in the two games he played for the Stormes since his move to Cape Town from Bloemfontein, has not recovered from an ankle injury. He sustained the injury in last week’s match against the Highlanders and was helped off the field by members of the medical team.
The Stormers will now field a second row of Rob Linde and Quinton Davids, with Andries Bekker, who made his Super 12 debut at Invercargill last weekend, coming on to the bench.
“It is a blow,” said Stormers coach Gert Smal. “The minute Gerrie left the field against the Highlanders, our lineout suffered. He had been making quite good progress and we gave him as much time to recover, but ultimately it was not enough.”
Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher, meanwhile, has named a 22-man squad for the match. The squad includes Wallaby prop Bill Young, who is returning from groin surgery after an injury picked up during Australia’s end of year tour to Europe.
George Gregan is also back after playing in the Tsunami game at Twickenham in London and he will face his team-mate of last weekend, Schalk Burger. Burger is back in the Stormers starting XV.
Brumbies squad: Nic Henderson, Jeremy Paul, Guy Sheperdson, Radike Samo, Mark Chisholm, Owen Finegan, George Smith, Scott Fava, Matt Henjak, Stephen Larkham, Lenny Beckett, Gene Fairbanks, Joel Wilson, Clyde Rathbone, Sam Norton-Knight, David Palavi, Al Campbell, Tamaiti Horua, Henari Veratau, Ben Batger, Bill Young, George Gregan.
