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Stormers rookie suspended

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:46

Suspended: Stormers flyhalf Lionel Cronje

Lionel Cronje has been suspended for two weeks and will not be considered as flyhalf for the Stormers on Saturday after a late night incident.

The stand-down will remain in place even if inside centre Juan de Jongh's elbow injury keeps him out and Peter Grant moves to inside centre.

And Cronje will not play for the Western Province Vodacom Cup team this week either.

Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee announced on Saturday at the post-match press conference following his team's 37-13 victory over the Hurricanes that Cronje was in need of game-time and that he would play for Western Province in the Vodacom Cup competition this weekend.

But since then, Cronje has been involved in an off-field incident - a fight in the early hours of Sunday morning, after the Hurricanes game - which led to his being arrested and taken to hospital for treatment. He spent most of Sunday in custody, being released on Sunday evening.

There is no clarity at this stage on the extent of his injuries but Coetzee told the media on Monday that he had seen Cronje and "he is looking fine".

The incident occurred in the player's own personal time and initial reports are that Cronje was not an instigator in the scuffle. The matter is in the hands of Cronje's lawyers.

A spokesman for the Stormers told rugby365.com on Tuesday that while the Stormers will support and back the player, it has been decided by the Stormers management that in accordance with the team's code of conduct, Cronje will be suspended for two weeks. 

"We have a team code of conduct [which Cronje had contravened], even though Lionel did not look for trouble," said Coetzee. He said no decision had been taken yet on whether Cronje would join the Stormers on their Australasian tour.

It is understood that he may come back into the reckoning for WP for the Vodacom Cup match against the Argentinian Pampas XV on March 27.

With inside centre Juan de Jongh nursing an injured elbow, this weekend's game against the Cheetahs at Newlands could have been Cronje's big chance to get a start for the Stormers.

If De Jongh were to be ruled out, a selection option would have been to move flyhalf Peter Grant to 12 and bring Cronje in at flyhalf.

Willem de Waal, who has been playing for WP in the Vodacom Cup (on Saturday against Eastern Province scoring a try and goaling two conversions and a penalty) would be a contender at flyhalf, were Grant to be moved to centre.

So too would be Conrad Hoffman, who has moved between scrumhalf and flyhalf. He is regarded as a huge talent but has been playing for WP because of the presence of Dewaldt Duvenage and Ricky Januarie as Stormers scrumhalves and Grant, Cronje and De Waal as flyhalves.

Hoffman certainly has the talent to play at Super 14 level but his lack of game-time at flyhalf would count against his selection at 10.

Coetzee is known to be reluctant to move Grant from flyhalf, because he has been pivotal to the Stormers success on defence and attack this year. The coach told the media on Monday that he would rather make one change than two. He described Grant as "the heart and soul of the team's attack - he has settled in nicely and is making the right decisions".

If he is to keep Grant at 10, an exciting option at centre, were De Jongh's injury not to improve in the course of the week, would be to bring UCT's 21-year-old Tim Whitehead in at 12.

Whitehead has been brilliant for the Ikeys in the Varsity Cup when not committed to the WP Vodacom Cup team and has spent a lot of time training with the Stormers squad.

Talking just before the start of the Super 14, Coetzee described Whitehead as "maybe another Juan de Jongh in the making".

"He's got such a lot of time when he does things. He has great skills as a centre - his passing, his vision, his anticipation, and he's got good solid defence too".

Frikkie Welsh and Dylan des Fountain are regarded as outside centres and would not be options at inside centre.

By Len Kaplan

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