Stormers wing Sergeal Petersen has to pull up his socks when they take the field against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The 25-year-old right wing has not been at his best in the first two matches of the Stormers’ Super Rugby campaign, despite winning both encounters against the Hurricanes and the Bulls.
And with Leolin Zas waiting in the wings, coach John Dobson, who will name his side for the clash today, admits that he is tempted to give Zas a crack in Johannesburg.
Dobson explains: “Zas is knocking hard, he played really well in the curtain raiser versus the Kings. “Serge [Petersen] is not showing what we’ve seen in the past from him, so that’s a debate.
“We had such good experiences with Sergeal [in the past and] will probably give him another chance.”
Dobson also thought about bringing in rookie centre Rikus Pretorius for this clash.
But with his backline defence having held firm to date - keeping both the Hurricanes and the Bulls scoreless - Dobson knows it would be silly to tinker unnecessarily with the side.
He says: “We looked at Rikus Pretorius, but with the defence hasn’t gone badly.
“The Lions will score, [but] to tamper with that [combination of Damian Willemse and Jamie Roberts in the 10-12 channel] may be a bit edgy.”