The DHL Stormers have been boosted by the return of Deon Fourie and there is good news for them elsewhere on the injury front but there is one area they may be being forced to take a risk heading into Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against the Bulls.
While Fourie’s return after being out with an eye-socket injury is massive, and the return to fitness of star wing from last year, Leolin Zas, is certainly timely, Sevens Springbok Seabelo Senatla was missing from the team announced for the DHL Stadium game on Friday.
Senatla was stretchered from the field after being concussed in the the final URC league game against Benetton in Stellenbosch two weeks ago and had passed his return to play protocols and on Thursday evening he was poised to start the quarterfinal. However, coach John Dobson confirmed that Senatla was in a car accident on Thursday night and was thus withdrawn from the team.
“Seabelo was in a car accident yesterday evening. He is okay and was not hurt, but he is in no shape to play. Let’s leave it there,” said Dobson.
The Senatla accident means that Angelo Davids has been moved into the starting team, and a change to the replacement bench configuration was made.
“Initially we were going 5/3 in favour of forwards against backs as we wanted cover for Zassy, who hasn’t played in a while. But we’ve opted instead now to go 6/2, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu as the only outside back reserve. The Currie Cup team was already leaving for Bloemfontein so we had to keep that in mind too.”
MEASURE OF SQUAD GROWTH
Ironically Mngomezulu’s first appearance for the Stormers was in the corresponding match last year against Edinburgh, where he was forced to come on early on as a replacement for the injured Rickus Pretorius. It is a measure of how much Dobson has grown his squad depth that Mngomezulu will take up a bench position on Saturday as a player who has gained experience and has shown great form both at URC and Currie Cup level and it is no longer the risk that it was a year ago.
However, where risk does come in is having Zas in the starting team when he hasn’t played since being injured a few months ago. Dobson is confident though that Zas will do a job for him, though it depends what kind of game it is whether or not he sees out the full 80 minutes.
VAN HEERDEN'S FITNESS A MASSIVE BOOST
Apart from the return of Fourie, which gives the Stormers their first choice back row configuration of Fourie, Hacjivah Dayimani and Evan Roos for the first time since very early in the season, the big boost for the Stormers at forward was the fitness of Ruben van Heerden. Our last sighting of the big lock was when he limped off the field with what was initially thought of as a potentially serious knee injury in Stellenbosch a fortnight ago.
“What happened with Ruben was amazing and it is a big boost for us as he’s been a very important player for us and certainly one of our best signings,” said Dobson.
“The Monday after he was injured it looked bleak. We were told he might be out for 12 weeks, which would have meant the injury was season ending. But then I got a note from the doctor saying that he was just completing an HIA test on Ruben and then he’d be able to train.”
Salmaan Moerat is out for the season and Van Heerden is very much a like for like replacement for him, otherwise the Stormers are in the great position of being at full strength with the exception of Senatla.
“I was just looking at the Bulls team for this game and it seems they are in a similar situation, it is great to be able to get to this stage of the season with most players fit and it says something positive about the way the teams are managing the players,” said the Stormers coach.
“We have Salmaan injured and we also have Ernst van Rhyn unavailable because of injury, but those two guys play the same position, otherwise with the exception of Seabelo we are at full strength.”
SELECTING LOOSE TRIO WASN'T EASY
A further measure of the way the Stormers depth has grown was Dobson’s admission that returning the loose trio to what it was for last year’s final wasn’t the easy choice people may have thought it was.
“Ben-Jason Dixon has grown immeasurably this year, he is really going to be a very big player, and I did give consideration to having his physicality in the starting team, but in the end I went for Hacjivah’s pace and skill set. We have Ben-Jason there to make what should be a massive impact when he comes on.”
The Stormers coach added that he’d been concerned about having to face the Bulls when it first came into prospect that the two teams were on a collision course but that after what he described as “a fantastic training week” he was feeling much better about it.
“It’s a difficult game but it is going to draw a massive crowd, the biggest ever for a Stormers game, and that makes it an amazing occasion. If you think back to where we were during the pandemic, it is great for South African rugby that the Stormers/Bulls north versus south rivalry has been resurrected to the extent that it has.
“And had we been playing Connacht or Munster in the quarterfinal that would have also been tough. A quarterfinal is always tough and Munster beat us here a few weeks ago and I am quite sure Connacht, who have really improved in recent times, will have a full go against Ulster on Friday night.”
DHL STORMERS TEAM: Damian Willemse, Angelo Davids, Ruhan Nel, Dan du Plessis, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies, Evan Roos, Hacjivah Dayimani, Deon Fourie, Marvin Orie, Ruben van Heerden, Frans Malhberbe, Joseph Dweba, Steven Kitshoff (captain).
REPLACEMENTS: JJ Kotze, Ali Vermaak, Neethling Fouche, Gary Porter, Ben-Jason Dixon, Willie Engelbrecht, Paul de Wet, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.