Stormers draft in Canadian cover

Canadian loose forward Jebb Sinclair has been loaned by English Premiership outfit London Irish to the Stormers as loose forward cover.

He will play off the bench when the Cape Town outfit hosts the Cheetahs in a Super Rugby match at Newlands on Saturday.

Having failed in their bid to lure Springbok Francois Louw back from another Premiership outfit, Bath, they turned to the Exiles for help.

This follows injuries that have ruled out seasoned loose forwards Schalk Burger (knee), Duane Vermeulen (knee) and Nick Koster (knee) till at least July.

"As you know we needed players because of the injuries to the loose forwards," Stormers coach Allister Coetzee said.

"As you know we wanted Francois Louw, but the deal with Bath never came off.

"We also wanted Jebb as we do need a specialist No.8. Our only fit genuine No.8 at the moment is Nizaam Carr, who is a player with great potential and promise. But after that we have Nick Fenton-Wells playing No.8 for the Western Province Vodacom Cup side, and he is an openside flank.

"Jebb played all the games for Canada in last year's World Cup. So he has played at a high level before, and that was crucial in opting for Jebb. We have lost a lot of experience in the form of Duane Vermeulen now that he is out injured and we needed someone who has experience of top level rugby."

Sinclair, who signed a one-year contract with London Irish last year, has played eight times for the Exiles. He joined them on the back of a superb World Cup campaign where he was an outstanding performer for Canada.

Standing 193cm and weighing 111kg, Sinclair will bring a huge physical presence to the Stormers pack as he is said to be defensively very solid.

Coetzee explained that Sinclair's loan is a temporary measure to ensure that the Stormers have enough experienced loose forward depth whilst some of their senior players recover from their injuries.

"He will be here for the next four games and then for the internationals in June he will go back to Canada and play and after that he will return. The only thing is he cannot play in the play-offs, because you have to have registered the guy before the first of April, but after the June break Schalk Burger and Nick Koster could be back," he explained.

The Stormers coach said that while he had been impressed with Maties Varsity Cup star Grant Hattingh who covers loose forward and lock but recently signed for the Lions, he pointed out that Hattingh does not have the experience that he was looking for to off-set the loss of his first-choice loose trio to injury.

"Before I left I really wanted Hattingh, there is an agreement between the Vodacom Cup and the Varsity Cup that those players are eligible to play Vodacom Cup but unfortunately he wasn't contracted to us.

"We were aware of his abilities and he probably would have been the next guy stepping in, but although he was taken by the Lions, yet again he is still inexperienced."

"We were looking for experience in the back row, what you must understand is when you lose Duane Vermeulen you lose all of his Super Rugby caps, his ability to contest at the line-out, to be defensively very strong and you cannot just replace that with someone who doesn't come close to what we have had, otherwise the team won't function properly.

"Therefore I have gone for an experienced guy who is line-out intelligent and can get us close to where Duane is. When we lost Schalk Burger at six we brough in a young Siya Kolisi with the old head of Duane Vermeulen there and Siya did better than we expected as a youngster

"We can't have a Nizzam Carr, who is really a promising player, and Siya Kolisi who is also an outstanding player, but they lack experience. We then also have Rynhardt Elstadt who we would like to play at lock and expect him to be an experienced loose forward. So it is just to get that balance right, that is where Jebb Sinclair fits in," said Coetzee.

The Stormers coach explained that the selection of Deon Fourie ahead of Tiaan Liebenberg at hooker was in order to rotate the players and added that Fourie's mobility will come in handy against a Cheetahs side that like to take the ball wide.

"Deon has really played well when he has come on and it is good for a player like him who was outstanding on tour supporting Tiaan [Liebenberg] and the same will happen now with Tiaan supporting Deon and I think it is the right time to have a bit of rotation there.

"His mobility has always been an added bonus to our side, that is what he does when he comes on late in the game. The Cheetahs play with a lot of width and so having Deon Fourie will help," he said.

Stormers: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Gerhard van den Heever.

Date: Saturday, May 12
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant referees: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa), Christie du Preez (South Africa)
TMO: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)