Stormers stars fearing burnout

There are fears that some of the Stormers star players have been overworked following the Springbok training camp earlier this week.

The Cape Town-based outfit were unable to train on Monday and could only manage a quick session on Tuesday while yesterday powerhouse locks Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph Du Toit sat out training with minor injury concerns according to Rugby365.

The duo, along with numerous other Stormers players, were allowed to join the Springbok training camp but coach Robbie Fleck is hoping this decision does not result in his team being jaded for Saturday’s crucial Super Rugby encounter with the Chiefs at Newlands.

“He [Du Toit] has got some swelling on the knee – it happened earlier in the week, so it is just precautionary that he has been pulled out of training,” said Fleck.

“Eben is just stiff. He was maybe overworked this week, so it’s just precautionary again. We are just resting them for today’s [Thursday] session.

“We always knew the Bok camp was going to be there, so we had to plan accordingly.

“We lost most of our guys on Monday, so we could not train Monday. Fortunately, the camp was in Cape Town on Tuesday morning, so we were able to get our Boks back on Tuesday afternoon for a quick session.

“The bodies have taken a bit of a hammering. Unfortunately, they [Etzebeth and Du Toit] had to be rested today [Thursday] to be fit for Saturday.”

Meanwhile, the Stormers and the Chiefs are both unbeaten in this year’s competition and face off in what is undoubtedly the most telling match of the weekend.

“Their [Chiefs] mindset is that they are going to outscore you and they will defend their line with whatever it takes.

“Our mindset is that we have to go into this game thinking we are going to win it by scoring tries and if that means we are got to push the offloads and play like we have done in the past then that is the way we got to do it,” said Fleck.