Cape Town - Stormers winger Seabelo Senatla will be out of rugby for an undisclosed period of time after being involved in a car accident.
He was set to play against the Bulls on Saturday (kickoff 15:30) in the quarter-final of the United Rugby Championship (URC) after being cleared from a concussion suffered against Benetton two weekends ago.
Senatla (30) trained on Tuesday but was in a serious accident on Thursday evening.
Senatla was scheduled to attend a First Thursday event in the Cape Town CBD in Bree Street where the former Blitzboks star, who is also a budding entrepreneur, would've promoted his wine brand Glory Wines at Culture Wine Bar.
He was live with presenter Dan Nicholl at Culture Wine Bar where he spoke about what got him into producing wine while playing rugby at international level.
It's still unclear when and how the accident occurred but John Dobson, Stormers coach, confirmed that the winger was not selected for the URC quarters after being injured in the accident.
"Seabelo was in a car accident," Dobson said when asked about the absence of his star winger.
“He is okay, but he is in no shape to play a rugby game this week.”
Dobson, though, could not elaborate on his injuries.
It is understood that Senatla's injuries are significant which casts doubt about his availability for the rest of the competition if the Stormers progress further and the rest of the season. He was apparently with his family when the accident happened on Thursday evening.
The Stormers were able to call on Blitzbok Angelo Davids to replace Senatla with Davids having played some good games for the team in the absence of the injured Leolin Zas. Zas will also make his return to the playing field on Saturday.
"It took Angelo a little while to get his spark back after returning from the Dubai Sevens.
"That's what his x-factor is, his speed, his intensity, his work rate. Defensively he is super which is great for a game like tomorrow (Saturday). In the air, he is super which is great for a game like tomorrow (Saturday).
"His return (to form) has probably come at the right time given Seabelo's injury. We had Angelo on the bench originally. What happened last night (Senatla's injury) changed the picture a bit."
@Leighton_K
IOL Sport