News

De Waal blow for Western Province

August 05 2008

Beleaguered Western Province have been hit hard by the news that fly-half Willem de Waal has been ruled out of Friday's Currie Cup clash against the Sharks at Newlands.

De Waal, one of the most prolific point-scorers in the history of the Currie Cup competition, suffered an injury against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.

He will see a specialist on Tuesday to determine the extent of the injury but Western Province coach Allister Coetzee said that he definitely won't be lining up against the Sharks.

"Willem took a fall on his knee and the impact caused damage to his hip," said Coetzee.

"Willem (De Waal) is in quite a bit of pain and he can't even stand on his leg. We're just hoping that he won't require surgery."

De Waal's injury has plunged Western Province into a fly-half crisis because there is no obvious replacement.

Three weeks ago reserve pivot Isma-eel Dollie left for Boland destined to remain there as long as De Waal, and later Springbok Peter Grant, were ahead of him in the pecking order.

Grant is presently out of action nursing an injury. Another Western Province fly-half, Ricardo Croy, left for neighbours South Western Districts (SWD) Eagles, also because of a lack of opportunity.

More bad news for Dollie followed when fly-half Naas Olivier came back into the picture on his return from France, but on Monday evening Coetzee said Western Province will be fielding a new cap in the pivot berth on Friday.

On Monday morning Coetzee called up two Western Province U21 fly-halves to join his squad at training in Bellville.

Conraad van Wyk and his substitute Matthew Rosslee both played for Western Province U21 over the weekend.

According to Coetzee one of these two players will start at fly-half. Apart from De Waal, Western Province will also be without first-choice centre Dylan des Fountain and possibly hooker Deon Fourie.

"Dylan (Des Fountain) suffered a toe injury and he is on crutches," said Coetzee.

"(Deon) Fourie has a badly swollen lip after stitches for an injury he picked up against the Lions. There's quite a bit of damage on his face."

Another Province U21 player, PJ Vermeulen, looks a sound replacement for Des Fountain and Springbok hooker Schalk Brits will make the obvious move from number eight to fill in for Fourie.

The injuries come at a time Western Province are licking their wounds, literally and figuratively, after being mauled by the Lions in Johannesburg, and the defeat was the depleted Cape side's fourth defeat on the road.

Simply put, Western Province have been unable to find worthy replacements for the likes of Springboks Conrad Jantjes, Jean de Villiers, Brian Mujati, Andries Bekker, Schalk Burger, Ricky Januarie, Percy Montgomery and Luke Watson.

The return of Springboks Tonderai Chavhanga, Bolla Conradie and Schalk Brits have not changed Western Province's fortunes and the team's lone win in the space of four Currie Cup encounters was a runaway win against neighbours Boland.

Now the team is facing a real threat of losing their unbeaten home record on Friday, although Coetzee said that his team always rises to the occasion for home matches.

The mood in the Sharks camp will be rather buoyant after the news that they have the three Springboks Ruan Pienaar, Frans Steyn and Odwa Ndungane available for duty on Friday.

There is precious little Coetzee or even Rassie Erasmus can do to improve the team's fortunes in the next few days.

Erasmus, Western Province's head of coaching, has been helping Coetzee at training in the past fortnight but the 'Streeptruie' still remain a struggling outfit.

All the that the Western Province team can hope for is that they maintain a position in the top half of the Currie Cup table so that when the Springboks finally wrap up their Tri-Nations assignments at the end of August, their national team players can return in September to nail down a play-off berth by winning in the remaining league matches.