NEWS: THE STORMERS' MIDFIELD DEPTH WILL BE SERIOUSLY TESTED WHEN SUPER RUGBY STARTS LATER THIS MONTH. WARREN FORTUNE REPORTS.
Fleck confirmed that Springbok Jaco Taute will miss the start of this year's competition as he will be needing surgery after injuring his ankle in the Stormers' first pre-season match against the South Western Districts Eagles on Saturday.
Taute joins first-choice No.12 Damian de Allende on the sidelines, with the latter still recovering from an ankle injury he sustained while playing for Kintetsu Liners in Japan's Top League.
According to Fleck, De Allende is only expected back in mid-April.
With Taute and De Allende out it leaves Fleck with youngsters Huw Jones, Johnny Kotze and veteran Juan de Jongh covering both the inside and outside centre positions. Under-21 star Daniel du Plessis is another candidate Fleck put forward for the No.12 jersey
"It's a young group and we are going to back the youngsters in the group," said Fleck during a press conference at the Western Province High Performance centre in Bellville.
"Injuries are Injuries, there is nothing you can do about it. They are a bit untimely because they [Taute and De Allende] are two senior players in the group and they do have a massive influence on the way we want to play.
"We have to move on and we are going to back the youngsters. Whoever slots into that No.12 position has got a job to do."
Fleck will be wanting to have a settled backline by the time they face the Bulls in their opening Super Rugby match on February 27 so that they can live up to their promise of a new and improved attacking game.
The new bonus point system will also be another spanner in the works, however, Fleck thinks the new initiative is a good idea for rugby.
The four-try bonus point will be replaced by a bonus point that is awarded for finishing three or more tries ahead of your opponent (bonus point for losing by seven or fewer points remains unchanged).
"It has worked well in France. I understand it's there to encourage more attacking play and for teams to play for eighty minutes. To land up with three tries ahead you have to keep working hard. I think it is a good imitative, so why not.
"In the past we done well to score three tries and this might give us some incentive to keep working harder to stay ahead of the pack," Fleck added.
Fleck said the initiative will not result in major changes to their pre-season planning.
"We are going to be sticking to what we have been planning all along. We started something in November and we are going to stick to that regardless of the bonus point structure. That losing bonus point is still there, so that does not change much.
"It certainly does encourage the team to play for the full eighty minutes and keep working hard. In order to win games you got to score tries," he said.
By Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com
