The France-bound DHL Stormers lock duo of Salmaan Moerat and Ruben van Heerden may be lost to the club at the end of the season but they still have a role to play in the current one, starting with Saturday’s crucial Vodacom URC showdown with Connacht at the DHL Stadium.
Moerat, who has been the target of what Stormers director of rugby John Dobson has described as uncalled for criticism on social media since he announced his departure for La Rochelle at the end of the current season, is only expected back in business end of the season for what will be his last hurrah in the Cape.
At least for now.
However, 28-year-old Van Heerden has been back in training after recovering from the thumb injury he suffered in the Kings Park game against the Hollywoodbets Sharks at the end of January and Dobson says he will be available for selection for the game against a Connacht team that is ambitious and desperate and he has high respect for.
“Ruben is available this week while Salmaan is still a few weeks away,” said Dobson during a press conference made sombre by the unexpected death over the weekend of the popular and experienced Stormers team manager, Chippie Solomons.
“It was our depth at lock that drove us to some of our victories earlier in the season and we have missed having that depth while Salmaan and Ruben have been out. Fortunately they will both be back for the playoffs, with Ruben back this week.”
That will release some of the strain on the two fit locks JD Schickerling and Adre Smith.
“It makes a big difference to us if we have guys like JD and Adre coming off the bench for us,” said Dobson.
The Stormers director of rugby and head coach struggled to keep his frustration at some of the vitriol apparently aimed at both Moerat and the Stormers’ star Springbok flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in check.
“I just don’t understand the world we live in now. I can’t understand why people would want to destroy a guy like Salmaan, or question a guy like Sacha, who is clearly a generational player. It’s absolutely astounding and depressing.”
Apparently Feinberg-Mngomezulu took some flak on social media for not dropping into the pocket and trying a match winning drop-goal off the last move of the Investec Champions Cup round of 16 game against Toulon, which the Stormers lost by one point.
“Let me just say this clearly, the drop goal was never the part of the plan; we were trying to get over the line. And we did. Adre Smith scored. It’s that simple.”
And Dobson is right about that - while there’d have been less of a debate and the TMO wouldn’t have been called in had Feinberg-Mngomezulu snapped over the drop goal, Smith did score.
He and his team was just unfortunately robbed by a poor refereeing call that looks more inept every time you watch it.