New and old look for Stormers against Blues

By WYNNE GRAY

The Stormers will have something old, something new, something borrowed and perhaps something Blue for their game against the visiting Super 12 leaders on Sunday.

A return for seasoned wing Pieter Rossouw fills the old category, Selborne Boome should be the new skipper and former Springbok flanker Rassie Erasmus has moved from the Free State to the Cape to help overcome an injury crisis.

Erasmus has struggled with a persistent foot injury for the past couple of years.

That caused him to miss Super 12 selection for the Cats this season, but he has been playing for Free State in the Vodacom Cup.

This week he answered a call for help from the Stormers, who have lost their skipper Corne Krige to a knee ligament injury for the rest of the Super 12 season.

Stormers coach Gert Smal said he needed to assess Erasmus' fitness, but wanted to include him in the squad for the final four games, starting with the Blues on Sunday.

That match looks even more daunting for the Stormers after their defeat last week to the Reds, who were a man down for most of the game because of hooker Tsai McIsaac's sending-off.

To offset the loss of his captain, Smal hopes to have Rossouw and other outside backs Marius Joubert and Egon Seconds available again after injury.

"We know we can play much better than we did against the Reds," Smal said.

"The loss to the Reds was a blow to our confidence, but confidence is a funny thing.

"You can get it back very quickly if you get your tail up. It's a good thing we're playing the Blues next, as a win against them will make people forget this match.

"We know the Blues are a good side, they are a fine all-round team with few weaknesses. They have top forwards and excellent backs.

"They pose a huge challenge, but we have never been afraid of challenges."

Smal did not want to make excuses for the Reds defeat and agreed that it was the worst performance by a Cape representative team at Newlands in several seasons.

"I cannot explain what went wrong. We just appeared to lose focus."