Skinstad begins comeback with WP
April 23, 2002
Bob Skinstad will make his long awaited return to the field on Friday night in Ravensmead outside Cape Town after being included on the substitutes' bench of the Western Province Vodacom Cup team. WP take on the Griffons in a Vodacom Shield match at Florida Park and kick-off is at 19:00. The Springbok captain injured his shoulder on the end-of-year tour of Europe and America and missed the last game, against the US Eagles. He said last week WP coach Sammy Paulse has promised him at least 20 minutes of game time. The No 8's return comes at just the right time and a convincing performance might just see him get a call up to the Stormers side for their last two games. Another Stormers player, Pieter Dixon, makes his comeback from injury on the Province bench. The hooker broke his arm in the first Super 12 game - against the Sharks in Durban - and has been out since then. Paulse on Tuesday confirmed he was planning to give both players at least 20 minutes of game time on Friday. "It went reasonably well with both of them on the training field and they will both get at least 20 minutes game time." Paulse added that both have been taking part in contact training sessions for the last two weeks and came through it well. "I am confident that both won't have a problem at all with the physical aspect of the game. To me as coach it is good to have players of their caliber in my squad. "They will be a great source of inspiration to the rest of the team and you could already see their influence at training. The intensity of the sessions picked up a few notches since they have joined us and I am sure on Friday night they will lift the youngsters around them." WP: Eric Olivier, Patrick Petersen, Allan Hofmann, Dave Cumming, Jeffrey Stevens, Chris Rossouw, Christoff Lotter, Ernst Joubert, Chris Steenkamp, Fiela van Zyl, Drikus Hancke, Immanuel McKenzie, Eddie Andrews, Schalk Brits, Rudolph Bosch (capt). Substitutes: Pieter Dixon, JB van Ster, Anton van Zyl, Bob Skinstad, Chris Fourie, Hermann Schroder, Colin Lloyd. |
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