The one negative of the DHL Stormers’ Vodacom United Rugby Championship win over Glasgow Warriors was the injury that was sustained in the one position they could least afford it.
* Get DStv to watch all the URC action *
Veteran Scarra Ntubeni, an important leadership figure in the team, was in excellent form during a difficult first half for the Stormers but was injured early in the second half. He had to hobble off the field with the help of the medical staff and it was clear that the injury was serious enough to make him doubtful not just for Saturday’s big showdown with Leinster, but also the games beyond that.
Why this is particularly problematic for the Stormers is that an area of previous strength for the Cape franchise has been eroded by departures to other provinces as well as a spate of recent injuries to players in the position. It started with Andre-Hugo Venter’s injury sustained in the first home game against Zebre Parma in Stellenbosch in mid-March and continued when Chad Solomons was ruled out long term more recently.
A few years ago these injuries wouldn’t have amounted to a crisis, but they have lost the likes of Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi to the Sharks, as well as Dan Jooste (also Sharks) and Schalk Erasmus (Bulls). Those last two mentioned aren’t playing in their franchise's first choice URC teams, and perhaps one of them was on Dobson’s mind when he suggested he may have to look outside of the Cape for reinforcements for the remaining games in the competition.
“Hooker is a definite problem for us and as you would have seen, Scat (Ntubeni) was in a moon boot after the game,” said coach John Dobson.
“It looks like an Achilles injury, and it also doesn’t look insignificant. We also have Andre-Hugo and Chad out, so we are definitely going to have to look outside. I will have to consult the rules on what we need to do to make a player brought in eligible for the play-off phase of the competition.”
In the meantime, Dobson does have a stop-gap reinforcement to call on in the form of Deon Fourie, who has excelled at flank since returning to South Africa from France but started his senior career at hooker.
“It doesn’t look like I can hold off on that any long, I think Deon is going to have to go back to hooker for a bit,” agreed Dobson.
Fourie captained the Stormers when they hammered Zebre by a good score in the game where Venter was injured in Stellenbosch. He was asked then whether he could see himself back at hooker and while he said he preferred flank, his answer wasn’t completely negative.
“I would have to get used to the soreness in the body that you feel the next day if I move back to hooker, as it is a long time since I have played there, but I did help out my club side occasionally overseas,” said Fourie.
“I have always been aware I may be needed in the position, so I have also trained at hooker with the Stormers and join the hookers in their lineout throwing routines.”
Fourie missed the clash with the Warriors due to a minor leg injury that Dobson didn’t want to risk, but he is expected to be back in the selection mix this week. The form shown by Junior Pokomela, who brings a different threat to Fourie, means that on one level Fourie returning as a hooker might work for the Stormers. It will mean they still have his world class ball scavenging ability available to them, while they retain the benefits brought by Pokomela’s skill set.
Nama Xaba, who replaced Pokomela in the second half, also did well against the Warriors and is a player with a similar skill set to Fourie.
However, with just JJ Kotze and Fourie now in the mix when it comes to hookers who boast senior representative rugby experience, the pressure will still be on Dobson to get that outside reinforcement he referred too.