Smal hits out at Skinstad
January 8, 2002

New Stormers coach Gert Smal on Monday hit out at inspirational No 8 Bob Skinstad for taking so long to have his shoulder injury attended to.

Skinstad, who hurt his left shoulder against England on the Springboks' end-of-year tour in December, had an operation in Cape Town on Monday and is expected to be out of action for up to three months.

This means he will miss the start of the Stormers' 2002 campaign and will be forced to play Vodacom Cup rugby for Western Province.

Smal is unhappy that the national captain took so long to have the problem sorted out. "When he returned from overseas, we did everything from a managerial point of view to determine what the situation was and gave the necessary recommendations," he told Die Burger.

"But there isn't really too much one can do if the individual doesn't do anything from his side. If he attended to the problem sooner, half of his rehabilitation period would already have been over. Then he would have been ready to take his place just after the competitions started.

"Everything has changed now, but luckily we have enough depth in this group. It's just disappointing that things worked out like this," he added.

Smal on Monday confirmed that Corne Krige would lead the Stormers in the 2002 campaign. Their first game is against the Sharks at Durban's Absa Stadium on February 22.

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