The DHL Stormers were dealt a blow on Tuesday when their Springbok prop Lizo Gqoboka was forced to return to South Africa with an injury.
Gqoboka was injured in the 20-9 defeat at the hands of Glasgow Warriors at the Scotstoun Stadium on Friday night and compounded their first loss of the season.
Stormers assistant coach Labeeb Levy confirmed that Gqoboka would return home to assess his injury but did not talk about a possible replacement for him.
“Lizo hurt his arm in the game so he won’t be up for selection,” Levy told an online Zoom meeting.
“At this point, everyone else is fit for selection. He went for a scan today, so we are just waiting on the medical report. He got hurt in a scrum.
“I can’t say what the final prognosis is because he flew back to Cape Town.”
Meanwhile, loose forward Marcel Theunissen says his side are looking for a big response when they take the field against Benetton this weekend to bounce back from the Glasgow loss.
Theunissen believes there is a lot that the Stormers can learn from their loss.
“We put a lot of work into that game and we really wanted to start our tour off with a win,” Theunissen said. “It wasn’t nice to lose.
“There are a few learnings we can take out of it, definitely our discipline, which wasn’t up to scratch. Those two yellow cards made it hard for us and there were a few unnecessary penalties.
“We have addressed it and our discipline will be much better going into the next game.
“We will also look at our set-piece, especially our line-outs. If we want to be the best in the world, we need to win our line-outs and scrums. From there, we can have a good base to attack from,” he said.
TOUGH OPPOSITION
Turning to Benetton, Theunissen believes their early season form is a key driver in their success and they will be tough opposition for the Stormers.
“Benetton is going to be a tough game,” Theunissen said. “They have a very good side this season. They drew against Munster and beat the Emirates Lions. It’s going to be a good test for us.
“We want to make things right with a good win on Saturday, but we know we are up against a good side who are coached very well and have a lot of international players.
“Right now our focus is only on Benetton. A win would give us a lot of confidence going into the next week against Munster. There is enough motivation for that game, as they are the defending champs and we faced them in the final last season.”