Never mind scratched games, we’ve been lucky to play, says Stormers star Gelant

Stormers fullback Warrick Gelant says it’s not up to the players to question the integrity of the Super Rugby Unlocked series, despite the campaign being rocked by game cancellations.

The Stormers’ final match was forced to be called off after positive Covid-19 cases in the Sharks camp, which deprived them of a last-gasp shot at the title.

“I think that is a tough issue,” Gelant said.

“The competition had been drawn up beforehand, and the decision-makers had to make their calls on how the format should work.

“Covid is a worldwide threat these days and out of our control.”

The Stormers had been virus-free for nine weeks, though they had two players placed in isolation after their match against the Lions.

“We have no other choice than to be well disciplined, even with our interaction at home with family and dealings with friends,” said the 25-year-old Gelant, who has played nine Tests for the Springboks.

“It’s not only the players who would be put at risk but also our families. It’s a big pandemic that is out there and the virus is very real.”

With their last game called off, Gelant felt the responsibility lay with the players to stay virus-free and healthy, in order to ensure disruptions to the domestic game remained limited.

“We are trying our best to keep ourselves disciplined in order for us not to put our opportunity to play the game in jeopardy,” he said.

“One could even have seen a scenario that we could have been told that we are not going to have a tournament at all due to Covid.”

While the Stormers had a rocky start to the Super Rugby Unlocked competition, Gelant believed they had turned the corner.

“We have had an inconsistent start but we know where we are heading, the way we can get together and discuss openly what we can improve and where we can get better as a team.”

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