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Selection posers for Robbie Fleck

Stormers coach Robbie Fleck peps up his team.
Stormers coach Robbie Fleck peps up his team.
Image: GALLO IMAGES

Stormers coach Robbie Fleck has some selection posers for this Saturday’s Super Rugby game against the Brumbies.

After his young team performed so well against the Rebels last week in Melbourne‚ winning 41-24 for their first victory outside of South Africa in two years‚ Fleck has a happy conundrum.

With Siya Kolisi and Pieter-Steph du Toit both available this weekend after missing the match in Melbourne‚ Fleck might have to drop one of the impressive Ernst van Rhyn or Kobus van Dyk to accommodate them.

No 8 Jaco Coetzee is injured and therefore one back row place has opened up‚ making Fleck’s choice a little easier.

“The trick now is to keep the momentum and the confidence within the group and after a win like that you do want to reward people who did well‚ and that will form a big part of our selection this week‚” said Fleck.

“We have the likes of Siya and Pieter-Steph coming back‚ and obviously we welcome those guys back‚ but a big part of our selection will be the fact that we did well in our last game.”

In terms of locks Fleck can stick with Cobus Wiese and Salmaan Moerat because he really has no other option. Eben Etzebeth‚ JD Schickerling and Chris van Zyl are all out injured meaning the impressive youngsters will have another chance.

But in the back row Juarno Augustus gave his best performance off the bench last week and Fleck could be tempted to reintroduce Kolisi and Du Toit from the bench this week‚ with an eye to their return fixture against the Bulls come on April 27.

In fact‚ the team that played against the Rebels was similar to the one that beat the Bulls in the pre-season Super Hero Sunday game in Cape Town.

“You will remember that we spoke about this after the Marvel game‚” said Fleck.

“There was a very similar team that played there‚ and we were exceptionally good against the Bulls‚ and the same guys were good against the Rebels.

“It was very heartening to see how the guys just went out and played their best rugby and didn’t get weighed down by the pressure of the situation we were in.

“It does make selections difficult for us now‚ but that is healthy. There is a lot more intensity in training now‚ there is more competition for places. That is good‚ it keeps everyone on their toes.”

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