DHL Stormers coach John Dobson has described Deon Fourie’s chances of playing in Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship semifinal against Connacht as 50 per cent but his injury problems and potential disruption do not end there.
Ace openside flanker Fourie watched from the sidelines as his teammates trained at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on Wednesday, but a significant absentee was Springbok lock Marvin Orie. Dobson confirmed afterwards that Orie had gone for a scan on a sore shoulder, something he complained about at the end of last Saturday’s 33-21 quarterfinal win over the Vodacom Bulls.
He is hopeful that Orie will be cleared to play, but in Fourie’s case, it appears he may face a tough decision.
“Deon is 50/50 at best. We will give him until Friday to prove his fitness. It is a tough one as if we don’t win the semifinal there will be no tomorrow, but if we win and play in a final we would want Deon to be 100 per cent ready for that so we shouldn’t push him if it is too risky,” said Dobson.
“If we were to win, we also have his own aspirations to take into consideration. We don’t want to jeopardise his chances of being fit to challenge for a place in the Springbok squad for the Rugby World Cup. So there will be no pressure placed on him, it will be completely up to him if he plays or not. We are just giving him the best possible opportunity to be ready and we all know what an important player he is for us.”
FOURIE IMPROVING
According to Dobson, Fourie is feeling good about his condition, but he hasn’t been tested yet in training.
“Deon is feeling good, but our problem is that he spends so much time in the jackal position, and there is no test for that. So he feels good, but it still is a bit of a worry,” said the Stormers coach, who admitted he has given some consideration to getting around the situation by including Fourie on the bench.
Dobson explained that the reason Orie wasn’t at training was mainly just because of the timing of his medical appointment.
“Marvin did train yesterday (Tuesday) but he complained that he was a bit sore today. He’s gone for a scan. Hopefully, he will be fine, I am quite positive about it, it was really that this was the only time he could get an appointment at the medical specialist. The thing about Marvin is that he’s always very keen to play so it would have to be really bad to keep him out.”
Dobson said that a year ago having two Springboks potentially doubtful for a semifinal might have been a major concern but he said that the growth of depth that has been engineered at the Cape franchise made him a lot less panicky.
“This time last year the situation might have made me a bit jittery but we have spread our depth to the point that we have plenty of players who have gained good experience this season to fall back on so I am relatively relaxed in comparison to how I might have been 12 months ago,” said Dobson.
Gary Porter would replace Orie if he didn’t face Connacht and the off-season buy by the Stormers has played well enough in his appearances in the senior team to inspire confidence. The same can be said for Willie Engelbrecht, who although not the same type of player as Fourie is a quality player to have as a backup for the starting team.
The Stormers team for the semifinal will be announced on Friday.