Car accident rules Stormers wing Senatla out of URC QF against Bulls

Seabelo Senatla was not included in the Stormers squad for Saturday's URC quarter-final against the Bulls in Cape Town because he was involved in a car accident on Thursday night.

Details are unclear, but Stormers coach John Dobson confirmed the incident after naming his side for the match on Friday.

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Senatla was on the receiving end of a head knock in the Stormers' last match against Benetton in Stellenbosch on 21 April, but had recovered from that setback and was full of energy at training in Bellville on Tuesday.

"Seabelo was in a car accident yesterday evening. He is okay, but he is in no shape to play a rugby game this week," said Dobson.

"We'll leave it there for now because family is involved, but that is why he's not playing."

With Senatla out, the Stormers have turned to Leolin Zas, who is back for his first start since tearing his gluteal muscle in January, and Angelo Davids on the wings.

Dobson confirmed that Davids had initially been picked on the bench with Senatla to start, but that after the accident the decision was taken to only go into the match with two backline players on the bench.

"We were going to go with a 5/3 bench split to cover Zas, because he hasn't played for so long, but unfortunately, what happened last night (the accident) changed the picture a bit," said Dobson, adding that Damian Willemse, Paul de Wet and even loose forward Hacjivah Dayimani could cover at wing if they needed to.

That could be a possibility, given how short on game time Zas is.

"It's going to be challenging given the length of his break," Dobson said of the top try scorer in the 2021/22 URC.

"I'd be surprised if he gets to 80 minutes, but he is fit and strong and