Due to concussion, Eben Etzebeth will not be available for the Stormers’ Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday.

The Bok lock took a head knock in the 35-8 win against the Jaguares at Newlands last week, which saw him go off for a Head Impact Assessment (HIA) and spend the rest of the game on the sidelines.

He was named in the Stormers starting lineup on Thursday after passing a number of standard tests in the week, but has subsequently been ruled out.

As a result, JD Schickerling comes into the starting lineup to form a lock partnership with Chris van Zyl, with Salmaan Moerat on the bench.

Stormers coach Robbie Fleck said the safety of the players will always come first.

‘We were hopeful that Eben would be fit to play against the Hurricanes, but unfortunately he did not come through some of the tests later in the week, so we made the call to give him another week to recover fully.

‘JD has been in great form this season, and we are also excited about what Salmaan will do with this opportunity.’

Stormers – 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 SP Marais, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Subs: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 Dan du Plessis, 23 Damian Willemse.

Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix