The DHL Stormers have been rocked by injury in the buildup to Saturday’s big north/south Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby against the Vodacom Bulls in Cape Town.
Star No 8 Evan Roos sustained a broken jaw in last week’s narrow win over La Rochelle at the DHL Stadium and is set to be ruled out until February, while fullback Warrick Gelant has a groin injury that in addition to this game is also likely to rule him out of the following week’s derby against the Hollywoodbets Sharks.
Roos’ injury sees a switch for Hacjivah Dayimani from flank to his position at No 8, and with Ben-Jason Dixon being promoted from the bench to blindside flank in Dayimani’s position, that is pretty much how the Stormers back row looked for most of last season when Roos was also out injured.
The Stormers may lose a bit of physicality with Roos not there, but then Dixon is also a physical player and good ball player, so the impact isn’t quite as pronounced as Gelant’s absence is on the backline.
Damian Willemse moves from the inside centre position he played last week to fullback in Gelant’s place, with Jean-Luc du Plessis, who has played most of his rugby at flyhalf, coming into the No 12 jersey in the continued absence of his cousin, Dan.
Du Plessis did well at inside centre when he played there in the recent Investec Champions Cup match against the Leicester Tigers at Welford Road and also played a bit there for Western Province in the last Currie Cup season so he is not a complete stranger to the position.
There are a further two injury induced changes to the backline, with Suleiman Hartzenberg as expected coming in on the wing for Ben Loader, who has an injured ACL joint but is expected to be back for the January Champions Cup games against the Sale Sharks and Stade Francais. Scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies is also injured so Paul de Wet, outstanding against Leicester, comes into the No 9 jersey and Stefan Ungerer backs him up from the bench.
In the one change to the team that is not injury enforced, Sti Sithole is rewarded for his strong scrumming display off the bench last week by getting a start alongside Joseph Dweba and Neethling Fouche.
The backline reshuffle sees Clayton Blommetjies return as the outside back utility backup while Willie Engelbrecht is joined by Keke Morabe, another player who was outstanding when the Stormers fringe players made a statement at Welford Road, as loose forward impact cover on a bench that features a six/two split between forwards and backs.
DHL Stormers team: Damian Willemse, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Ruhan Nel, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Paul de Wet, Hacjivah Dayimani, Ben-Jason Dixon, Deon Fourie (captain), Ruben van Heerden, Adre Smith, Neethling Fouche, Joseph Dweba, Sti Sithole. Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak, Brok Harris, Connor Evans, Willie Engelbrecht, Keke Morabe, Stefan Ungerer, Clayton Blommetjies.