DHL Stormers coach John Dobson was happy enough with his team’s 38-22 win over Benetton in their final Vodacom United Rugby Championship league clash of the season but he was concerned about the injury toll that hit him across two fronts on Friday.
DHL Western Province, who also have Dobson as their head coach, lost Suleiman Hartzenberg to a potentially season ending knee injury in their Carling Currie Cup clash with the Pumas in Nelspruit earlier in the afternoon.
The Stormers’ first choice wing Seabelo Senatla was then knocked cold towards the end of the URC game at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, while there was massive concern about the two locks, Ruben van Heerden and then Ernst van Rhyn, who limped off with leg injuries in the first half.
“It was an expensive day for us, losing two locks in one half,” said Dobson. “They haven’t been for scans yet, but any knee injury is potentially serious. Seabelo has gone off to hospital. Obviously his injury is concussion, and we know the protocols around that. He could be back in two weeks for the quarterfinal. But the Suleiman injury didn’t look good.”
The Stormers therefore could have problems to solve at both lock and wing in the buildup to their quarterfinal against one of the Vodacom Bulls, Cell C Sharks, Connacht or Munster a fortnight from now. The Stormers will finish third on the log as Ulster beat Edinburgh in the later game on Friday. The two teams effectively tied for second, but Ulster officially get second because they won one more game than the Stormers, who had two draws in their record.
Leolin Zas is fortunately back in training and is expected to make his return to the field in the Currie Cup next week, so that will offset the loss of Senatla if it comes to that.
At lock the Stormers do have a couple of options, and Ben-Jason Dixon, who came on for Van Rhyn, who in turn had replaced Van Heerden, did well against Benetton and also played lock when the Stormers outplayed the Bulls in a URC league game in Cape Town before Christmas. Adre Smith, a stalwart from last season’s winning run, is also returning to training.
“I don’t think Adre will be ready for the quarterfinal, the plan is to reintroduce him through the Currie Cup that weekend,” said Dobson.
Gary Porter, although primarily a No 5 lock in the mould of Marvin Orie, is another option as he’s been a revelation as a newcomer to the Stormers this season after being recruited from the lower leagues of English club rugby.
Of course, there is a chance that one or both of Van Heerden and Van Rhyn might not be serious and they do have two weeks to recover. Of the pair, Van Rhyn looked less uncomfortable when leaving the field.
The Stormers arguably didn’t hit the straps to the extent that was hoped against Benetton after two defeats (one in the Heineken Champions Cup and the other in the URC) and they have much improving to do if they are to approach the quarterfinal with confidence. However, Dobson was happy with the way the work done in some key areas had paid off.
“Our maul defence was good tonight and we know Benetton are a good mauling team while I also thought we had sorted out some defensive issues,” said Dobson.
Generally though there should be concerns - the lineout work is still inconsistent, while the back row lacks balance without Deon Fourie. Fortunately for the Stormers though Fourie is ready to play in the quarterfinal after recovering from his eye socket injury and that should make a big difference to the Cape team.
Manie Libbok’s place-kicking, until he slotted a potentially confidence building conversion from the touchline, was also all over the place, and some aspects of his game management are questionable. Going into the playoffs, the Stormers might need to consider being satisfied with being a little more boring than they appear to be prepared to be at the moment.
Their flash is what has brought them success but there are times it might be overdone and having too many unpredictable players in the mould of Libbok and Clayton Blommetjies in the same team could be risky when the time to play playoff rugby arrives.