Bombers missing four starters at practice

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This article was published 21/07/2015 (3708 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were without four regular starters as they returned to the practice field on Tuesday for the first time since last Saturday’s 26-25 loss to the Calgary Stampeders.

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea says defensive end Greg Peach sustained a lower body injury versus the Stampeders and will be out for at least this week. The Bombers had Thaddeus Gibson playing in Peach’s position on Tuesday.

Peach joins defensive tackle Bryant Turner, who missed last weekend’s game with a broken thumb and will also miss this Saturday’s game in Edmonton against the Eskimos.

O’Shea said the club will attempt to have Turner fitted with a playing cast and he might be able to rejoin his teammates on the field next week.

Meanwhile, offensive linemen Dominic Picard and Jace Daniels were also both absent from practice on Tuesday but both men are expected back as early as Wednesday. O’Shea said Picard was sick and the club told him to stay away on Tuesday, while Daniels has a minor lower-body injury that isn’t expected to keep him off the practice field long.

The Bombers’ record fell to 2-2 with Saturday’s loss to the Stampeders and tempers were short as the team returned to the field on Tuesday. A scrap between Bombers running back Cameron Marshall and cornerback Johnny Adams carried on for several minutes and saw other players also pushing and shoving and members of the defence and offence both yelling and cursing at each other.

“Guys were flying around and playing with a little more emotion,” said Bombers defensive end Jamaal Westerman. “That was just guys working hard and playing hard.”

O’Shea also downplayed the episode. “It’s not really fights. It’s not like guys helmets were off and they’re going toe to toe. It’s a wrestling match… It’s fine. It was spirited.”

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek