Stormers backline coach Robbie Fleck admitted that the team would miss captain Duane Vermeulen for the remainder of the Australasian tour, but were ready to soldier on without him. Vermeulen has been released for more rest as part of an agreement with the SA Rugby Union. It was agreed he would have four weeks off during the Super Rugby season. Missing the next two weeks will take his tally to three weeks off, meaning he will have to miss only one of their last six games.But when the team is on a three-match losing streak, the timing couldn't be worse to release the skipper, who also happens to be the most influential player in the squad.Nizaam Carr will take Vermeulen's place for the next fortnight. Carr, by coach Allister Coetzee's own admission, has been performing below his best."When we had the agreement with SA Rugby, we did our planning and Duane was always going to miss the first game on tour," Fleck said."It was important that the captain was with the team to help us get to a good start. Now there's a big gap, but that was the plan and we're going to stick with it."From a leadership point of view we're going to miss him."He brings physicality, especially on defence, and is a great line-out option, but we've got Nemo [Carr] and we're going to push him to get back to his best. He was a Bok last year."The Stormers meet the defending champions, the Wara-tahs, in Sydney this weekend and desperately need to put their season back on track after losing to the Chiefs, Highlanders and Hurricanes in their last three outings.The Stormers have been good in patches but haven't been able to string two decent halves together. Last week against the Hurricanes they were 25-3 down at the break and "won" the second half 17-0 but still lost the match."[The Waratahs] play a pretty simple game, they're pretty brutal," Fleck said. "They ask a lot of questions on attack and they're pretty solid on defence."They're a quality outfit, they've proven that by beating the best in the last couple of months, but we have to take a lot of confidence out of that second half against the Hurricanes. We have to put them under pressure at the set piece, defensively, with our kicking game and then with ball in hand as well."..