By Stephan Nell
Stormers captain Corne Krige will have a brain scan on Monday after sustaining another knock to his head, as well as being punched hard in Saturday's 45-33 Super 12 victory over the Chiefs at Hamilton.
"We will have a scan done for safety's sake," said Stormers coach Gert Smal. "We are sure that Corne will be fit for Friday's match against the Blues."
Smal also revealed that he is considering citing a Chiefs player, believed to be lock Keith Robinson, for punching Krige, who bled from his ear.
According to Krige, the Chiefs forward also punched scrumhalf Johannes Conradie, centre De Wet Barry and fullback Percy Montgomery. But the Stormers are only likely to go through with the citing if they can back up their claims with video evidence.
Meanwhile, Heyneke Meyer's Bulls were expected to cite Blues prop Kees Meeuws for a punch on hooker James Dalton in their match last Friday.
The Stormers will be keeping a close watch as punishment could potentially rule the powerful All Black prop out of Friday's critical encounter at Eden Park in Auckland.
Krige sustained a blow to the head at a ruck, following the previous week's clash of heads with Crusaders fullback Leon MacDonald.
He did not display any symptoms of concussion in the aftermath and said on Sunday that he was feeling fine.
"I don't feel anything is wrong, but if the scan shows any problem, I will rest," said Krige.
On Saturday, the Stormers' Captain Courageous also dislocated his left ring finger so badly that it was lying at 90 degrees over his middle and index fingers.
After it was strapped, he played on and led the Stormers to an important victory, the first by a South African side in Australasia in this year's Super 12.
Krige revealed on Sunday that he had words with controversial Australian match official Stuart Dickinson, who was the touch judge on Saturday and came under fire from the Stormers for his management of their recent defeat to the Crusaders.
The incident occurred after Dickinson pointed out tighthead prop Faan Rautenbach for foul play. "I told him I got the feeling he was only punishing us and he said he only reported what he saw. I apologised to him afterwards for my outburst and he accepted it," said Krige.
Dickinson will be the referee in Friday's match against the Blues.
Other injury concerns in the aftermath were lock Quinton Davids (wrist) and Montgomery, who sustained a blow to a buttock. Both men will be fit to face the Blues in a match where the Stormers will be out to keep their faint semifinal hopes alive.
Smal is likely to close his training session on Tuesday after suspicions of spying by the Chiefs at the Stormers' captain's practice last week.
"There is a lineout option the Chiefs always use. We practised competing and they did not use it once."
National coach Rudolf Straeuli would have been cheered by the Stormers performance, where wing Pieter Rossouw scored a hat-trick of tries and became SA's leading Super 12 try-scorer of all time.