The DHL Stormers have made an excellent start to their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign, but it has not been perfect from an injury viewpoint, with two Springboks having been lost during the first three rounds, plus possibly one of those players’ replacements.
Stalwart tighthead prop Neethling Fouche was the first injured during the home leg and is out for much of the season after sustaining a fracture to his arm, and his replacement Sazi Sandi will undergo scans before we know whether he will be joining him after he was injured in the resounding 34-0 win over Scarlets in Llanelli.
Even more concerning for the Stormers though, was the loss of veteran flank and leadership figure Deon Fourie.
Fourie, who was set to double as a hooker again during this campaign so that the Stormers could have both their ace ball scavengers, with Paul de Villiers being the other, on the field at the same time when it was necessary, sustained a serious bicep injury not long after coming onto the field as a replacement.
Stormer director of rugby John Dobson said that the knowledge that Fourie would be out for a lengthy period of time meant that what should have been a joyous away change-room at Parc Y Scarlets was actually a sombre and tearful one.
“Deon is devastated. There were a lot tears after the match, Deon was in tears. It’s a serious bicep injury so he will go home,” said Dobson.
“It is an emotional change room. As much as the win is pleasing, it shows how tight this team is that we are so upset about Deon.”
The tears might be explainable by the fact that Fourie is now 39 years old and after just coming back from a long injury layoff questions are bound to be asked whether he can continue his career.
Fortunately the Stormers have De Villiers in excellent form as the starting No 6 and they’ve also used Marcel Theunissen there, but the prospect of seeing Fourie and De Villiers in tandem at some point was an exciting one so it is disappointing it won’t happen.
The Stormers’ injury concerns did not end with Fourie and given that they are already without one tighthead in Fouche, the fact that Sandi is now also facing some time on the sidelines should be concerning.
“Sazi will get scanned and we’ll see where he stands, but for now he is out. That’s three really good tightheads in Frans Malherbe, Neethling and Sazi now out and no team can cater for that on their roster,” said Dobson.
The Stormers do have some strong young players coming through, and this might be an opportunity for the recent Junior Bok captain Zachary Porthen, spoken of as a future star by national coach Rassie Erasmus, to take the gap offered to him. Another promising youngster is Corne Wellbach, while Hencus van Wyk has come in on loan from Free State, while Oli Kebble can play both sides of the scrum.
“We should be able to keep our strong scrumming culture going,” said Dobson.
The injuries aside, it was a great night for the Stormers, who have now scored 95 points against just 10 across their three games.
The initial target would have been two wins from the tour, but the Stormers have been good enough to suggest they go to Parma this week and then Treviso the next to play Benetton with some hope.
If they win both those games they will be five wins from five going into the international break and be well on the way to achieving the minimum number of log points required to be sure of a top eight finish.
Not that the Stormers will be satisfied with just playoff qualification - after this start, with their only blemish being the bonus point missed in the win over the Ospreys, they should be aiming at the top four.