Western Province could be forced to pick a rookie back-row combination when they tackle the Lions in the Currie Cup this weekend, and if their captain and agsteman Willie Engelbrecht does not recover from a bad back.
Engelbrecht played the full 80 minutes of WP’s 26-19 Currie Cup Round 6 loss to the Cheetahs but looked like a passenger on the field with Province assistant coach Dawie Snyman revealing the 32-year-old soldiered on with back spasms.
Should the WP skipper sit out the Lions game the Kapenaars will have to turn to rookies Divan Fuller, Louw Nel, Keke Morabe and Paul de Villiers, for Saturday’s trip to Johannesburg.
Snyman however had good news about the possible return to the team for regular starting scrumhalf Imad Khan, who did not face the Cheetahs because of a hamstring injury.
Of resting Khan and picking veteran No.9 Dewald Duvenhage against the Cheetahs, Snyman said: “Immy’s injury doesn’t look too bad, it seems just to be a hamstring but we didn’t want to take any chances.”